Jade
by buddytiggy
Summary: Jade's mother's dying wish was to not look for her father, only pain and misory can come from him. After suddenly waking up in the middle chaos, can the team help her out of the madness, or will she be a pawn for the rest of her life?
1. Farewell with love

"Today class, we will begin with algerithums," Mr. Schurshal begins as the class groans quietly. He turns to the wipe off board behind him, "Node one," I_Vbatt + v_1-v_2/ R1=0, "Node two,"

Jade sits happily in her seat loving her new advanced math class. Twenty minutes through the class, the prinicaple comes over the loud speaker, "Jade Clines, please report to the office with your belongings," The class Ooo's at her as she grabs her text book and binder. Walking down the hallway with her winter coat, _'It can't be another collage interview, and I don't remember hacking the school system to expose factory farming or child slavery this week._ Her mind goes blank seeing her mother's best friend waiting in a chair, "Um...Hi Brittney," Jade greets qestioningly opening the door. Brittany stands immedetaly and goes to embrace Jade, wrapping her arms around her frail body and back pack, "What's going on?" She chuckles nervously.

"I'll tell you on the way," Brittney turns to thank the clerk then holds the door for Jade.

Getting into Brittney's Red Chevrolet Camaro, she turns to Jade, "Jade,"

"Yah?"

"Your mother's in the hospital,"

Jade feels her face go pail and her heart drop to her feet, "What happened?"

"She has been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer,"

Jade looks at Brittney, "Well drive!" She yells reaching over and turning the key in the ignition making the engine roar to life as exhaust lazily lifts into the air.

After making the hour drive from Clintonville to Appleton in complete silence, they reach St. Elisabeth's cancer hospital.

Before Brittney can put the car in park, Jade swings the car door open. The winter air burning her nose as she sprints to the automatic doors that don't open fast enough. Almost running into the desk she yells at the clerk, "Where is Amy Clines room?"

"Relation?"

"Daughter,"

"She's not expecting any visitors,"

"I don't care!" She screams, "Where is my mom?"

"Jade, calm down," Brittney yells, her conver's squeaking on the floor.

"Is this your mother?"

Jade gives the clerk a look of bewilderment. Having had the look focused on her on more than one occasion, Brittney steps back, knowing at this point the onslaut of insults is like a title wave, nothing can stop it from crashing to shore.

"Do you remember the relation question?" Jade asks rudely slamming her hands on the counter.

"The relation question?" the receptionest repeats with the same amount of rudeness thinking she doesn't get paid enough.

"Yes, now in what parallel universe could my mother be in a hospital bed AND right next to me perfectly fine?" Jade yells adding on the top of her lungs, "Because I'd REALLY love to be there right now!"

"I don't know,"

"That's what I thought. Now shall we try this whole conversation over?"

"Sure,"

"That was a rhetorical question. I don't care what you have to say other than telling me what floor and room number Amy Clines is staying in. And before you ask the other stupid question I know wants to come gallivanting out of your mouth, Clines is spelled C-l-i-n-e-s. And to answer the next two stupid questions you are going to ask that are completely unrelated . I have no authority to talk to you this way other than I feel like it and I know I can. And yes, you just got schooled by a thirteen year old. Now number if you please,"

This time it's the clerk's turn to look bewildered. She looks down at a book on the left of her large desk, "Room two thirty six, on floor three,"

"Thank you," Jade begins to run toward the stairs deeming the elevator too slow after wasting three whole minutes on an uncultivated ignoramus like her.

Reaching the third floor she slams open the door and proceeds to rush down the hall only stopping when she reaches room 236. Walking in, her long, blond hair rusteled and her mother's hand-me-down coat ruffled, she see's her mom looking exactly the same as she did that morning, looking up at the T.V.

"Hi Mom," Jade says out of breath, her normally pail cheeks now have a rosey hue.

"Oh, hi huny. I wasn't expecting you to sprint up here until after school,"

"Brittney came and got me,"

"Oh?" Her mom sits up, her short, brown hair plastered to the back of her head from the pillow, "Where is she?"

"Probably stuck on the elevator...Or apologizing to the low life clerk with no brain stem. But enough about me, how are you feeling?" Jade asks taking off her coat and draping it over a chair to revel a black T-shirt with her old jeans and now wet tennis shoes.

"You need to stop doing that, huny. Not every one is smart like you," Her mother grabs her hand as Jade sits on the side of the bed, "As to how I'm feeling, I'm alright,"

"Alright as in normal, or alright as in some one with stage fore breast cancer?" Jade looks angrily at her mother.

Brittney sighs loudly as she walks into the room, "Dammit Brit!" Amy yells causing both other girls to jump, "I told you not to tell her!"

"Oh, come on, there are two factors here that forbid that," Jade says, "One, Brittney can't keep a anything a secret to save her own life, and two, I would have just beat it out of her if need be,"

"Yah, Amy, I don't feel like getting beat up by your middle school daughter," Brittney retorsts, sitting on the other side of the bed.

"So, why are you in the hospital and not just in the doctor's office?"

"They had other appoointments after me, so they stuck me in here to do more testing to determine the best corse of action to fight this cancer,"

"How long are you going to be here?"

"I'm not sure, Jade, but you need to go back home and go to school tomorrow,"

Jade gives her mom a questioning look, "Mom, its Friday,"

"Oh? Huh, that's funny. I went through the whole day thinking it was Thursday,"

"That sounds just like you. Don't even know what day it is, and yet your never late for anything," Amy laughs.

While the two women laugh about their highschool memories, Jade is deep in thought.

Stage four, She takes a quiet gasp of air, _That's the worst! Oh my God, is Mom going to die? She begins to panic as thoughts race through her mind, Okay, Jade, just calm down. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Think logically. It's two thousand six, medical advances have been taking great leaps. But those leaps cost money. Well Mom does have an okay job as a seamstress for Lakeside clothing. Her health insurance should cover at least half the cost. But still, how much does cancer treatment go for? Oh! I can just hack the hospital's billing and change everything to a dollar! But how can I use a computer here? I'll have to wait until I get home._

"Jade," Her thoughts are intrupted by her mother, "Don't even think about hacking the hospital to reak havock on their billing department,"

"Too late,"' Jade smiles widley as Brittney has an axasperated look on her face.

"Well, sorry to leave you like this, but I hae to get going. I have work in the morning. And Jade," She turns her head to look at her with an angry face, "I will NOT be bailing you out of jail again if you decide to destroy another major food industry by spaming every computer in Wisconsin with horrific pictures of animal crulety,"

Jade laughs nerviously, remembering being dragged to court on a law suit from happy Cow farms. She won the case and got them closed down, thanks to Brittney being her lawer, "Yah, yah, yah. I won't"

Brittney points at her with a stern look, "You better not,"

"Geeze where's the faith?" With a last wave Brittney leaves.

Slowly, Jade turns to her mother, all happiness drained, being reminded by the hospital bed the reality at hand.

"Don't worry, Jade. I'm going to be fine," Her mother pats her hand.

 _I sure hope so_

Several hours go by as Jade and her mother watch random cartoons until Jade finally falls alseep laying next to her mom

A knock at the door inturupts Amy from the evening news. The docor walks through the door holding a clip board. Amy shuts the T.V off.

"Good evening, Ms. Clines," The man greets with a smile.

"Hello, doctor. What's the news?"

"Well, I have good news and I have bad news," He begins.

At the sound of a new voice, Jade slowly wakes up, keeping her eyes closed and listening. "Well, let's hear the bad news,"

"Alright," The doctor pauses, and takes a deep breath, "With out treatment, you have one year to live," He looks into Amy's eyes, ready to see tears laced with horror and uncertinty. Instead, he is met with a steady and calm gaze. He clears his throught happy to have the worst out of the way, "But with treatment, and surgery, you will have at least ten years. Now I know you must have may questions,"

"Just two. Will my insurance cover this? If not, how much will I be paying a year?"

"Well, your insurance should cover half, if you give me until tomorrow morning, I can have the numbers for you."

"Good enough for me,"

"Have a good night,"

"You as well doctor," With that, the doctor closes the door, "Jade, don't go getting any wild ideas," Amy looks over at the top of Jade's head, "I'm getting the treatment no matter the cost,"

Jade's head shoots up and she turns quickly to face her mother, tears streaming down her face, "Damn straight you are!" She yells.

"Jade," Her mother coos softly, "It's okay to be scared, but I'm going to be just fine," Jade nods her head slowly, as she lays back down, her mother wraping her arms around her small frame.

The next morning, a knock on the door wakes both from their uncomfortable sleep the hospital bed too small to share, "Good morning, ," The doctor greets with a smile.

"Good morning, Doctor, do you have the numbers for me?"

"Yes, I do," The doctor searchs the paper work on his clip board as Jade proceeds to the chair Brittney was using yesterday.

"Well, come in, you don't have to stand in the door way and let the whole world know our problems," Jade says rudley.

"Jade, I know your not a morning person, but you could show some respect to the man who is going to save my life," Her mother preaches as the doctor closes the door and takes a seat on the small, backless stool.

"Alright, , here are your numbers. Totals, with out health insurance, which includes the entire chemotherpy process is $200,00. Now, I don't want that number to scare you, because your health insurance will kick in after your $1,500 deductibal. Now here is what you will be paying out of pocket $54,500," Jade takes a sharp inhail and turns pail, feeling light headed.

"Alright, that's a big number, but I know my daughter and I can make it through, thank you so much for your time doctor," Amy says standing from the bed, ready to go back home.

"Sounds wonderful, I will have a receptionest call you with in a few days to schedual an appointment for you to disucss your treatment regimen,"

"Alright," Amy begins to gather up her and Jade's belongings, wanting to get home and begin on a game plan for the bills.

"You are able to check out at the front desk when you are done here," The doctor stands and leaves the room while Jade is frozen to the spot.

 _Jade, it's going to be alright, Mom is stobern. Just think about it this way; $54,500 that's for probably ten years...Holey shit, Mom can't be sick for ten years! Okay, let's make that five years. So, $54,500 divided by five gives us $10,900 a year?! Okay, that's a year. Now divide that by 12 months in one year and that gives what? $908.3 repeating?! What the fuck does this screwed up system think we have? Fucking money trees in the back yard!_

"Jade!" Amy yells for the third time at her daughter, knowing the blank stair into space is her internally freaking out.

"Yah, Mom?"

"Stop scaring yourself. It's going to be fine. You don't have to worry about anything execpt your schooling, do I make myself clear?"

"Yah, sure Mom. Can we just go home? I'm sick of seeing white. This place is giving me sensory deprivation,"

"Yes, we can go home now," Amy holds her hand out to her daughter who rises from the chair quickly to grasp it, millions of thoughts still rushing through her mind.

After checking out, both Amy and Jade stand underneath the awning, out of the mixed precipitation falling from the cold, dark sky, "So, Mom," Jade begins, rocking back and forth on her heals, "How do you plan on getting home?"

"That girl, I sware, it's a wonder how she got to be a lawer, she's late for everything," Amy grumbles, her breath billowing into clouds.

"Oh, well. I could just call bomb her, or track her cellphone and make a creepy voice go over her radio demanding her to pick us up,"

Amy turns to her, "Don't you dare!"

"Oh, speak of the devil and she shall appear in a speeding red camaro," Jade points her finger to the south entrance where the car drifts into the parking lot.

"I can't believe that woman somtimes," Amy puts a hand to her face and just shakes her head not sure what else to do.

"Well, your fashionably late as usual," Amy says getting into the passenger seat as Jade takes the middle seat in the back.

"Sorry, the jurry couldn't reach a verdict when I thought they could," Brittney apologizes rubbing her temples.

"I'm telling you, we need a different court system, you know, one with people who can tell their feet from their face would be nice," Jade snickers watching Brittney look at her through the rearview.

"If only congress could be like that to huny, America would be so much different,"

"Yah, I wouldn't have to be stuck in an advanced class that is still on nodes!"

"You're really complaining about that?" Amy sighs as Brittney turns the car onto the highway back toward home.

"Yes! Some kid in my class..."

"I love how you say 'some kid'. Don't you know the names of your classmates?"

"Why should I? They are all intulectually beneath me, there for I don't need to know their names, just their test scores,"

"That's harsh," Brittney looks toward Amy, the windsheild whippers making an annoying squeeking sound as they try in vain to whipe away the freezing slush falling from the ugly sky, "So, how many collages have wanted her this week?"

"Um...Harvard has sent us thier twelfth letter. This time practically begging me to let her enroll, next year!" Amy sighs, "Other than them, I've gotten ten others this week," The car becomes quiet after that, each thinking about their own problems.

"Alright, ladies, here we are at your humble abode," Brittney breakes the silance with a cheery tone parking in front of their small, two bedroom house on the corner of Ann street and North Park street.

Personally, Jade loved their home. It had an amazing kitchen, plenty of counter space, including an island in the middle. A dinning room, a living room just big enough to fit their dinosoar of a T.V that took two men to lift it, one baige colored coutch and a matching recliner that Amy inharited when Grandma Clines passed away three years ago. The bathroom was tiny, but when neither of the woman in the house cared much for makeup or hair styeling, it stayed neat for the most part. Jade's room was her sancturary. Her double sized bed that was a pillow top, she deemed it the closest thing it gets to sleeping on a cloud. She had her study area in the far corner that was complete with a large wooden desk that was also given to them by Grandma Clines after her death. She had everything she ever wanted in that desk for studying, and hacking. Not that she would ever let her mother know about that part. The lap top Brittney got for her for christmas two years ago worked perfectly where she could go 'incagnito' on line, and if done correctly, almost intracable. Her desk was her prized posetion. Anything from graphing paper to tracing paper lay inside the top drawr, the bottom drawr housed sewing kits, another thing she will would never tell her. No posters covered her walls, instead pictures of her modeling her mother's disigns that she tries selling as a side job.

Jade enters her room as her mother and Brittney sit on the couch and talk about what the doctor had said. Alright, let me see here. I can look up Mom's pay stubs from last year and go off of that if I need to panic yet or not. Lifting the top to her laptop and turning it on, she begins to open four different tabs, three of which serve no purpose at all either than switching quickly if something were to happen such as her being traced or her mother walking in. Alright, Amy Clines made $30,050 last year. Not to mention the articals she sells on her own... Now I just have to go into the bank account and see what bills we pay a month then multiply that by twelve months in a year. Opening another tab she hacks into Amy's bank account and looks up all the bills that she pays through the bank. Alright, the utility bill is $1,200 a year. The Insurance is $900 a year plus the morgage is $7,200 a year. That equals through the bank alone $9300 a year!? Closeing her laptop she sneeks out of her room, checks the living room to make sure her mother and Brittney are still talking and makes her way into her mother's room. She really needs to find a new place for the key to the lock box. Jade thinks as she stratches her arms up to the top of her mother's large dresser. Opening the lock box Amy keeps under her bed she pulls out the list of costs her mother keeps. Oh, I guess I didn't need to hack her bank account...Oh well. She scans through the list Let's see; Food is about $400 a month, Regular checkups cost $1500, School supplies are $500 a year, Utility bill again is $1,200, Phone bills for both of us is $1,200. House insurance is $900, Morgage is $7,200 and the car loan is $1,560. Add that all up and we get... Carry the two, the one, the three and the...$19596?! What the fuck have we been eating? Gormet?! She digs deeper into the box looking for anything else Misc costs? Really? $400? Alright, Oh, that was already on the other piece of paper? Works for me. Now I just have to subtract the $30,050 of mom's wages from the $19,596 and that leaves us with...an extra $10,454 a year? Huh, wow. No wonder I can take an hour in the shower and totally pig out on junk food when I want to. So that doesn't seem so bad. Now Mom's treatment was $10,900 a year...shit. That leaves us $446 in debt! FUCK! Well, no more hour showers I guess, that means that alone could limit out spending. And if I turn off the water while washing, that can save us more. Unplugging my laptop when not in use could save a little bit, and not pigging out so much. So a guestemit would be saving about $1,800 on food because Mom get's free lunch at work and I always take a lunch to school, then the utility bill, that would save about $400 dollars, that means...WE would have an extra $54 at the end of the year! She puts everything back quickly and sneeks back into her room to make notes of her discovery. Alright, I have nothing to worry about now, Mom was right...who am I kidding. Mom is always right.

After she writes her findings in a notebook and sticks it back into her desk she flops onto her bed, slapping her arm over her eyes to block out her cealing light and the boring white walls of her room.

"Jade," She hears her mother calling her. Did I fall asleep? "Jade, dinner is ready, huny. I know your tired but you need to come and eat something," Jade opens her eyes to see her mom's smiling face.

"Yah, okay. I'll be right there," Jade grumbles uncovering herself from the blankets she doesn't remember putting on herself. Making her way through the small hallway toward the dinning room she smells her favorite dish. Yum! Mom's sweet and sour pork!

"I hope your hungry, I made lots for the growing girl in the house," Her mother beams from the small table.

Remembering her findings from earlier that day, she slowly sits into one of the wooden chairs, her plate already made for her, "Actually, I'm not that hungry," She lies looking at her mother, determination hidden behind worry in her eyes.

"Are you not feeling good, huny?" Amy asks beginning to eat slowly.

"It's just nerves about everything that's been going on,"

"Oh, alright. Well, you have to eat at least half of what's on your plate,"

"Alright," She begins eating slowly, having proven it for herself, the slower you eat, the less you eat. If I eat half of what's on my plate tonight, I can eat a fourth for lunch tomorrow. Mom always makes double batchs of this, so if I play my cards right, I can make this one meal last a whole week for us minus breakfast.

"Huny,"

"Yah Mom?"

"Stop worrying,"

"I'm not,"

"You can't hide when your worrying, no matter how hard you try," Her mother pats her on the head as she passes to put her plate into the dish washer.

After dinner, Jade decides to go back to bed, having been stressed out all day taken alot out of her.

One year passes with Jade in school and her mother working a full time job until one night.

"Jade, huny," Jade walks into the living room where her mother calls her, "Can you help me up so I can go to bed?" Jade nods her head and draps her mother's arm over her shoulder and slowly helps Amy into a standing position.

Latly, the chemo her mother has to do has been gerting has taking alot out of her. She's been eating less, sleeping more and hasn't been able to work as much because of the pain she feels in her hands and the migrains she's been getting.

Slowly, Jade helps her mom get into bed and covers her up, "Good night Mom, I love you. Sleep good,"

"Good night huny," Jade leans down so Amy can kiss her forehead, "Make sure you make yourself a lunch today,"

"Yah. Okay, Mom. I love you," As Jade closes the door she remembers she has to check on the bill status. _I'll do that later tonight._ As she walks back into her room, she opens her laptop, wanting to see just how much money her mother has been making for the house. Seeing herself in the black screen, she can see the big circles under her eyes from stress and lack of sleep. She has lost weight due to eating less than she's used to. _As long as Mom get's better, everything I do is worth it._ Logging into her mother's online banking, she can feel her heart almost stop beating. _Mom's wage has gone down by $17,255?! Okay Jade, calm down. It can't be that bad. I'll just have to look at the bill statements that have been coming in the mail these past few months...Who am I kidding. Mom can't even make enough to pay for her treatments right now. We are already in debt!_ Her breathing speeds up as tears rush down her face as she is forced to come to terms with the reality of the situation.. _.I have to sit down with Mom and tell her we need to start giving this up..._ She slides off her desk chair and falls to the floor, sobing in fear as she throws herself into an anxiety attack.

The next day she is woken suddenly, "Jade? Jade, are you alright?" Brittney's voice yells from her door way as she hears her foot steps rush up to her.

"What?" Jade lifts her head slowly. She was still on the floor from where she was last night, "What's wrong?"

"I'm asking you that. Why are you on the floor?"

Jade sighs heavily, "Where's Mom?"

"Sleeping still. Why?"

"Brittney, can I talk to you outside?"

"Sure, huny," Brittney helps Jade off the floor and they walk outside into the brisk fall air. Jade had started her freshman year in highschool. Having no friends at school, deaming them all unworthy, uneducated, annoying and self centered createns, she didn't have anyone to talk to, to turn to. And now that the reality of her world came crashing down onto her shoulders, it was too heavey to carry. She felt like she was being crushed to death under her mother's weight.

"What's up, butter cup?" Brittney half heartedly laughs sitting on a porch swing overlooking the quaint neighborhood.

"Um...I don't know what to do right now."

"About what?"

"We..." Jade sighs heavily, "Mom isn't working enough to pay the bills. What she's making now doesn't even cover her treatment," Jades heart beat races once again, for some reason feeling guilt rush over her.

"I understand," Brittney looks down at Jade's pail form, "I understand what you are trying to say, Jade. You want me to tell your mother it's time to give somethings up," Brittney smiles down at Jade who swings her head up, astonishment written on her face, "Listen, Jade. I know I'm speeking for your mother on this to. What ever happens you just need to worry about you. You can't carry the weight of the world. Your still too young for that. You should be enjoying the best years of your life. Not worrying about the bills that your mother has to pay. That's too much for a fifteen year old. Do you understand what I am saying?"

Jade nods her head and hugs Brittney as Brittney squeezes her close.

When her mother wakes up, Jade helps her to the swing outside. Having done reasearch, finding that fresh air helps calm people down and trees have a healing aspect that doctors still can't exactly explain other than it works. Setting her mother down and bringing a blaket out for her, Brittney sits next to Amy and begins talking to her about the things that needed to change around the house while Jade cleans the house from top to bottom, having been warned by the doctors that her mother's ammune system was delicate through chemo.

After their talk, Amy decided to give up the car, and the house and to move in with Brittney. As tears stream down both their faces, Jade silently screams from her bedroom, more anxiety attacks than she can count happening in one day.

When summer brake rolls around, Brittney helps Jade and Amy move in with her.

Jade begins a part time job at a flower shop making $5.15 an hour. Four hours a day, seven days a week.

"Welcome home huny," Amy greets Jade as she walks through the door to Brittney's house.

"Hi, Mom," Jade forces a smile to her face as she looks at her bald mother sitting on the coutch with two blankets wrapped around her in the eighty degree weather.

"How was work?"

"It was good. How are you feeling?" Jade asks preparing a cup of green tea for her.

"I'm okay, Jade." Amy smiles and takes the tea with shaking hands as Jade sits next to her, "Are you excited for your softmore year?"

"Yah,"

"Huny, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just tired. I'm going to go to bed. If you need anything, just give me a call, alright?"

"Sure, huny. Sleep well," Jade kisses her mother good night and makes her way to their joint bedroom.

Walking into the room she pulls out her laptop and logs into her mother's account only to be sent into a spirling attack once again. Even with her part time job to help with the bills, they are still in debt by $28,901 by the end of the year.

Tears stream down Jade's face as she silentily screams herself to sleep.

Six months pass and Jade begins working a seceret full time job at a paper mill on third shift seven days a week, eight hours a day by making fake id's. Her grades begin free falling and her relationship with her mother and Brittney turn south due to lack of sleep, food and more stress than an inmate on death row.

"Happy sixteenth birthday, Jade!" Brittney and Amy cheer at the kitchen table with three cupcakes.

"You guys really didn't have to do this," Jade smiles suprised as she walks through the door after another hard day at school.

"Don't be silly, this is your sweet sixteen!" Brittney laughs and hugs Jade. Jade then goes to her mother in the wheelchair and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

Jade thinks back to the doctors notes left on the kitchen table she found a few days ago. Her mother had less than a year to live. She fights tears from forming as she blows out her candle on her chocolate cupcake. Wishing for her mother's health to improve.

After opening her two gifts, one being a fifty dollar gift card to Wal-mart and the other being a knitted hat made by her mother that looked like a black cat with green eyes. They celebrated by watching the sience channal for five hours straight until Jade had to 'go to bed'.

Three months later;

Jade walks up the steps of Brittney's house to find a note on the door, 'Jade, call me when you get off of school. I will come to pick you up'. Jade walks over to the elderly neighbor's house and uses their phone.

"Brittney, what's going on?" Jade asks when Brittney picks up her phone.

"I'll tell you on the way, I'll be there as fast as I can," Brittney hangs up and hops in her car and speeds back to Clintonville.

Jades heart drops, having heard those exact words when they found out Amy had cancer.

"Is everything alright, Dear?" Mrs. Paulson asks putting a hand on Jade's back, watching the teen girl grow more pail than usual.

"Um...I don't know," Jade turns around to look at the kind, old woman in the eyes before throwing her arms around her neck in a hug as she sobs on her shoulder. Mrs. Paulson just rubing her back, trying to calm the unconsolable girl.

The normally hour drive from Appleton to Clintonville, takes Brittney only twenty minutes with a police escort. Pulling up to the house slamming on the brakes, previously going about ninty, she jumps out of the car, "Jade, we need to go, NOW!" Brittney yells opening the door for Jade to hop in. Jade waves to Mrs. Paulson as Brittney slams the gas down to get back to Appleton, all the way praying it would be in time.

"What's going on?" Jade yells after about five mintues.

"Jade..." Brittney sighs, not wanting to say the words, wanting to keep a death grip on them, "Your mother...she's,"

"No! No! I don't want to hear it!" Jade screams, tears rushing down her face like Niagra.

"I know you don't!" Brittney yells back, "But it's time we start facing facts,"

"There are no facts when it comes to life and death!" Jade yells looking at the spedomater, for once thinking ninty too slow.

After ten minutes of nothing but sniffels being heard, Brittney speaks again, "When we get there, you need to go in alone. I have already said my..." Brittney choaks up as she tries surpressing a sob.

Reaching the hospital, Jade feels like her feet are led, too heavy to move with fear. Reaching the room, they sudenly turn into feathers as she rushes to her mother's bed side.

"Mom! Mom you can't leave me!" Jade yells sobing into her mothers chest as Amy simply strokes her long, dark blond hair.

"Jade, you need to listen to me,"

"No! Tell me later, when we get home," Jade yells sobbing harder.

"Huny. I won't be going home after today," Amy could almost hear it. Jade's world falls apart, "You need to listen to me," Jade simply nods her head, "I need to tell you about your father,"

"What?"

"I don't want you looking for him. He is an awful man. Please. This is my dying wish," Amy grasps Jade's hand, "Promise me you won't go looking for him,"

"I promise." Jade says bluntly, tears still rushing down her face, but her face much more calm, having gone into a state of shock emotionally.

"And, promise me, you will keep living,"

"I can promise that," Jade hugs her mother again, "I promise I will do something to better this world, and help you make a difference," Jade sniffels as her mother's heart monitor begins to become irratice, "I love you mom. So much,"

"I love you to Ja..." Her mother flate lines. Jade begins to sob uncontrollable when Brittney rushes in.

"Jade," Brittney tries pulling Jade away from her mother's body, but she refuses, clinging to her corpse as if her own life depended on it, "Jade! She's gone!" Brittney finally yells causing Jade to stop shaking her mother's form, "Jade, I'm sorry, but your mother is dead," Brittney pulls her out of the room and they both wrap their arms around one another, mourning the loss of a mother and a best friend.


	2. Moving on

Through two days of denial, Brittney and Jade make arrangements for Amy to be cremated, and for Jade to get the ashes.

"What about a funeral?" The director asks as Brittney and Jade sit at his desk, picking out Urns for Jade.

"No funeral," Jade says quietly.

"She needs a funeral,"

"Don't tell me what to do. It's just a body, and we are all she had. So, I repeat again," Jade leans over the desk to stair into the directors eyes, "I'm not paying for you to line your pockets while you take advantage of grieving loved ones in their lowest time by advertising that 'this is what they would want' bullshite. They are dead, they don't want anything," Jade slams her hands down onto the oak desk, turns quickly and proceeds to slam the door shut after exiting.

"I'm sorry about that. You have to understand it's hard for her,"

"Does she have a father?"

"No, I'm all she has left, and I'm not even related by blood, just a family friend," Brittney gets up from the chair and looks for Jade.

"Damn girl, is too smart for her own good," The director sighs shuffling through some paper work in front of him.

Brittney, after looking in every corner inside the funeral home, she suddenly puts a hand to her head, Duh, of course she's on the roof.

Opening the door to the emergency exit, setting the alarm off, she slams it shut again. Her eyes temporarily blinded by the sunlight until she see's Jade sitting in the middle of the roof.

"Jade, that wasn't nice," She walks up to the small blond, curled into a ball with her knees tucked to her chest in her torn up jeans and baggy sweater.

Jade doesn't look up as Brittney sits next to her, "How can the world keep moving around me, when mine is shattered?"

"Because, no matter what happens, we have to keep going," She puts her hand on the girl's head who starts crying.

"Why?"

"Why what?" Brittney brings Jade into a tight hug.

"Why do the good people have to die?"

"Huny, it's not just the good people. Every one dies some time," Brittney lets a few tears slide down her face as she watches the world continue with one less spark of light. After about ten minutes of silence, both of them in their own thoughts, "You know we have to go back down there, right?" Brittney finally says pulling away.

"Yah, I know. God only knows, he'll probably tax us on every second to," Jade smiles slightly as Brittney giggles softly pulling Jade up to her feet.

"Are we ready to continue?" The director asks, his stomach hidden by the fancy looking oak desk. The collar of his black and white suit looks like it has to be cutting off circulation.

"Yes, sorry about earlier. But I'll make it up to you," Jade sits back into the chair, folding her hands together on the desk, "I'll make it short and sweet so we can move on," Jade picks up the urn she picked out three hours before, "Burn the body, and put half the ashes in here, the other half in a small box so I can put her to rest where she wants...You know," She stands up and gets closer to his face, "The way she would want it, and all that," She smiles as she digs into her back pocket and pulls out a large wad of hundreds and slamming it on the desk.

"Jade, where did you get that money?" Brittney asks as Jade slams it onto the desk.

"That's not important, now is it...Sir?" She grimaces at the show of respect.

"Why no, it's not,"

"Now, I'm sure this should cover the cremation, and here is an extra one hundred for the urn. Now, don't contact us until this is done, and for the love of God," She gets closer, and grabs his tie, careful not to touch his double chin, "Don't you DARE ask for more money, or I'll make YOU fit into this," She holds the urn up to the other side of his face as he begins to sweat. After letting go, she walks out the door and waits for Brittney to drive her home.

Two days pass by and they get the call to come pick up Amy's remains. They make the visit short and sweet. Hoping she would never have to see the disgrace of a human again for a long time.

Getting back to Brittney's house, "Where are you going to put the rest of your mother's remains?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I know I'll find the perfect place some day," With that being said, she walks into her now half empty room and begins going through her mother's belongings.

After about an hour, she stumbles over her birth certificate.

Jade Clines November 11, 1987 Born to Amy Clines and Jack Napriel.

 _Jack Napriel? That's my fathers name?_ She sets the other documents down and goes to her laptop and look up the name. _That doesn't surprise me he lives in Gothem. That's where Mom grew up._ Her curiosity grows when she can't find him on any social media sites. She begins to hack utility companies and the mail system in Gothem until she finally gets an address.

 _132 South Main st. Gothem, New Jersey? Wow that's..._ She opens a fifth tab to look up maps of the USA. _That's over a thousand miles away. Why the hell did Mom ever come to Wisconsin?_

She goes back to looking through her mom's documents until she stumbles upon something, even she deems as strange. A letter from her mother to her, dated one month before her death. Her heart pounds as she opens the letter.

Dear Jade,

When you are reading this, I have passed on. I know you must be scared, alone, feeling like your world has ceaced to exist, but I promise, you will move on.

Now, the reason I am writing this letter to you, is because I want to tell you about how I met your father. I know, shocking, but if I don't tell you now, you will never know.

Now, I was born in Gothem, New Jersey, which you already knew. I was a wild child, exactly opposite of you actually. I didn't care much about my grades. Instead I cared about partying all night and what people thought of me. I know, silly and stupid. But as they say, hind sight is 20/20. With that out of the way, I met your father at a rather dark party in a run down building. I drank about ten more shots then I should have and found a guy who, I'm not going to lie, was rather good looking with my beer goggles on. Both of us were about seven sheets to the wind and ended up going back to his house. We had a one night stand. When I woke up, I realized what I had done was not only bad, it was a hazard to my life. Your father was crazy. I mean absolutely insane. The kind that needs to be locked up and put in a straight jacket. Before he could wake up, I got out of there as fast as I could.

I realized I was pregnant the next month and I ran away from home when Jack began looking for me. That's how I wound up in Wisconsin. To answer the question I'm pretty sure you have, no I haven't had contact with that man since that night.

That's all I know about your father. My last wish for you, is to not go looking for him. Only pain and fear can come from that man.

On a slightly brighter note, I want you to know, I love you. Nothing in this world or the next is going to change that. I only want the best for you, my daughter. Yes, life has it's up's and down's but I know you will keep your eyes on your prize in life, what ever that may be in the future for you. I'm not sure what your take on the after life is, but I promise you, I will try my hardest to be with you and watch over you the best I can. I know you will miss me, I will miss you to, but this is just another path that our lives has laid out for us and we have no other choice but to follow it.

Keep going. Stay strong. Don't care what other people think of you. Do your best even if your best doesn't seem like enough, keep trying. I know I will see you again some day, hopefully much later than sooner.

Keep going.

With love, Your mother, Amy Clines.

As she reads, tears plop onto the paper, then grow, just like her heart brake.

 _I'm sorry Mom, I can't keep my promise. I can't stay here with Brittney. I'm only keeping her down and becoming a burden to her. She'll never admit it, but I know this won't work out._

She put's the letter into her desk and continues go through her mother's belongings as Brittney is on the phone with bill collectors, trying in vain to tell them there is no one else to pay her bills that are over eight teen.

About an hour passes until Jade has gone through every scrap of paper work, piece of clothing, and belongings that cancer didn't steal from them.

Opening up her laptop once again, she begins taking photo's of her mother's antique dresser and her desk with the small camera built in to the laptop. After cropping and making them look a little bit better, she posts adds onto the internet, telling them to make an offer over $500.

Once that is done, she decides to try to sleep. Laying down on her bed, she turns to her mother's mattress next to her, now empty. Never to be filled with her sleeping form again. She begins to cry into her pillow, as the reality begins to sink in. Her mother was dead. She would never be able to hold her again. Never hear her voice telling her not to worry. Feel her nurturing touch that could fix almost every problem. Suddenly, anger grips her form.

 _This is all the fucking system's fault! If they had caught it earlier, none of this would have happened! Mom would still be here!_ Tears of anguish turn to tears of rage as she screams into her pillow. _If they would have actually listened to what my mother was telling them and not be so fucking stuck up thinking they are smarter than everyone else in the world, Mom would still be alive. FUCKING SYSTEM! I'll have my revenge!_ The tears begin to fade as she feels like she needs to take action now. She gets back out of bed, turns on the light and grabs her laptop roughly off the desk. Logging back on, she opens up the internet and stops.

 _Where do I even begin? And who's to say it's not Mom's fault. Maybe there were no symptoms any way? Then it's no one's fault. No one's fault... Then who's to blame? Everything we do has a consequence. Then who's at fault for this consequence? Who?_ Her brain comes to a dead end trying to rationally figure out the death of her mother. _If it's no one's fault, then why did she die? Why can't she just come back? What can I give up to bring her back?_ Tears come anew as she forces her mind to think harder at what she can do to bring her mother back, even though she logically knew that wasn't possible. The dead were dead and there was nothing any one could to to fix that. _Tell me what I can do to bring her back!_ She internally screams to a God she doesn't even believe exists. _I'll never hack again! I'll be a better, nicer person! I'll give up anything to have my mom back! PLEASE!_

The next morning rolls around as Brittney wakes her up to eat breakfast.

"How did you sleep?" Brittney asks sitting at the table, waiting for Jade to take a seat.

She says nothing as she sits across from the woman who she viewed as an aunt, "I'll take that as you slept like shit. I understand. I didn't sleep good either," She reaches over and touches Jade's frail hand, "Jade, I just want you to know, I'm here for you. You can talk to me, cry with me, even if you feel like you need to, you can yell at me. Please, I want to help you through this," She lifts Jade's face with her other hand, "Can you let me do that?" Jade just looks away, grabs her bowl and puts it back into the cupboard, then walks back into her bed room to start cleaning her mother's belongings up and seeing what else she can sell.

After rounding up all her mother's cloths and most of her own, she grabs trash bags from the kitchen and begins stuffing them full.

"Jade, what are you doing?" Brittney asks after she see's Jade go through the kitchen for the fourth time.

"I'm just rounding everything up," She stops in the doorway connecting the kitchen to the living room, "I'll be gone most of the afternoon," She begins to walk back to her room.

"Jade, where will you be going?" Brittney gets off the couch to talk to her face to face.

"Just going to see how much money I can get with selling some of her cloths,"

"Oh, alright. Well, if you need a ride, just let me know," Jade simply nods her head and goes back to her room.

"If I take these to a second hand shop, I might be able to get something out of these. What I don't sell I can give to a shelter," She thinks walking out side, carrying two bags out of four, "The thrift shop is down town, I can just borrow her wheel barrow," She says to herself plopping the bags next to the garage, then starts rummaging to dig the four wheeled, red wagon out.

"Jade, why are you in the garage?" Brittney asks walking outside, hearing loud as large pieces of plywood she shoves the the side carelessly.

"Why do you keep pestering me?" Jade spits back rudely, not turning around to face her guardian as she shoves the last six foot plywood to the side with another loud, ear splitting bang.

"Jade! Tell me what you are doing!"

"What the hell does it look like?" She yells back grabbing the wheel barrow and throwing it at Brittney's feet.

"Stop throwing my things around!"

"You never use this any way, why does it matter? It's just a material object!"

"What is wrong with you?"

"That's a good question," Jade exists the garage and walks past Brittney, back into the house to grab the other two bags.

 _I can't believe that girl! She's throwing my things around like she has no respect!_ Brittney takes a step back mentally, _I guess I should cut her some slack. At least she is going outside. Some fresh air will do her good. She's just angry. Who wouldn't be? Teenage hormone's raging next to the only relative she has dying. I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner._

Jade comes back out and walks past Brittney with out so much as a side glance and plops the four bags into the wagon and starts off, pulling the haul behind her.

Her mind is blank as she walks down the side walk toward down town to sell the items she has.

After receiving only fifteen dollars from the articals of clothing that the shop would take, she drops the rest off outside a church that holds small sales for people in need and starts back home.

 _I'm sure she just needs sometime alone to sort out her thoughts. This is Jade we are talking about. She doesn't like to be around others as a rule. Heck, most of the time, she just kept to herself in her bedroom growing up as a child any way._ Brittney thinks as she sits on her couch in the living room, completely ignoring the nature documentary playing on the T.V. _I'm sure when she's ready to talk, she'll come and talk to me..._ Her thoughts are abruptly stopped when the back door is opened and then slammed shut again.

"Jade?"

"Yah,"

"Are you hungry, huny?"

"Don't call me huny. Only Mom is allowed to call me that...Was allowed,"

"I'm sorry. I won't call you that again. Can you please answer my question?"

"No, I'm not hungry. Thank you though," With that being said, she goes back into her room to go to bed. She needed to work tonight, and tomorrow she had to go back to school.

Logging onto her computer, she looks up the adds she posted. She had two bids. Both for under five hundred dollars. Does any one know how to read? She replies stating that if they wanted to get any where in their pathetic excuses for a lives that they would have to learn how to read and follow simple instructions. She asked them how they had gotten so far in life with less than a brain steam in their head. With in less than a minute, one of them named Bob replied with one word. **Luck**.

Jade chuckles softly to herself, never believing in luck in her life. Everything had a reason for being, everything had a reason for happening, so how can he be alive when he can't even reply correctly to an add? Yet here he is, and her mother is dead. Luck, huh?

Closing the laptop, she crawls into her bed, and for the first time in a while, she fell asleep quickly.

Growing up, she never really remembered her dreams, but this one, she had a feeling she would remember for a while.

In the dream she stood in the middle of a decimated building, bodies strewn, some contorted in horrific ways, other's stabbed through with debree. The people who were left alive, screamed and cried for their loved ones. Looking down, she had blood dripping from her hands. It begins to pool around her feet, until it starts raising in a perfect circle around her. She begins drowning in it. The last thing she see's is a figure in black, the closest thing she would imagine Death looking like.

She wakes up with a start, breathing heavily. She quickly looks around the room. Once satisfied the figure wasn't there, she looks at her hands. She sighs heavily, _It was just a dream._

She looks over at her alarm clock. _It's eleven? Why didn't my alarm go off?_ She looks out the window to see it's still dark. _Oh, it's eleven at night. I have to get ready for work._ She get's up and sneaks into the bathroom, leaving the light off, she washes her face and brushes her teeth and hair. She gets ready for work. By eleven twenty five, she has her lunch packed and is ready to head out.

"Good evening, Lesily," A guard greets at the door to the paper mill.

Lesily was the name she took when she made her fake id's. Lesily Schultz. She was nine teen and didn't have a high school diploma, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," She states walking past into the mill. On the way to the locker room, she is greeted with sympathetic looks from four other people. All of which she just nods to and walks on.

Through out work, she talks to no one, keeps to herself and does her job. Eight hours later, it's time to punch out. Walking out of the mill, it's time to go to school. Not bothering to go home, she walks her way straight to school.

Walking the two miles to the building, she finally enters to recieve the usual glares from her peers. She didn't have friends, which never bothered her, none of these people she deemed worthy to be her friends. They all seemed to attract drama, or make it themselves. Something that she hated more than anything. Normally, people just left her alone. But today seemed like she had a giant target on her forehead that screamed talk to me.

"Hay, looser. You've been skipping school?" A boy named Brad teases her.

"No,"

"Then why have you been gone?"

"My mom died." The look on his face almost brought a smile to her face. The look of shock and shame.

"Oh..." He quickly regains his ground, "I bet your lying. You just want attention,"

"Don't believe me? Ask the principal, you know since you two are so chummy," Having enough socialization for one day, she moves on.

The first class of the day is her psychology class. She actually enjoyed this class. It gave her the opportunity to learn why people behaved the way they do, and it helped her learn how to make her words act like a replant.

The class goes by quickly as she sits in the back of the room in the corner absorbing the theories of how the human memory works.

The next three classes include science, learning about quarts and neuons. After that is her advanced math class. Next is her gym class. She hated gym class. It required her to work with other people.

Like any other day, she is picked dead last. Today's sport is hocky. _Hm. Best day of my life for gym. I love hocky. I get to beat people with a stick, and only get penalized slightly._ A smile adorns her face as she takes her position at the front. The whistle blows and she smakes the puck the side, runs past the other nine players and shoots into the goal.

"You know, this is a team sport, right?" Malisa, one of the stuck up, snotty girls asks from behind her.

"Not my fault the pretty princess is afraid to brake a nail," Jade turns and smiles at her, which looks more like a murderous grin, "I'm just saving you from the wrinkles and sagging boobs you'll have when you turn fifty,"

Malisa gaps in horror, "How dare you!" She screams and grabs Jade by the hair that she has up in a poney tail.

"Hay! What's going on here?" The teacher comes rushing up.

"She's threatening me!"

"Is that true, Jade?"

"I don't know how teaching how the chromosome oxidizing makes us age is threatening,"

"What?" looks from Jade to Malisa, Malisa still having a death grip on her hair, "Well, if she didn't threaten you, there is no need to be pulling hair. You're in high school, Malisa. Bullying is not allowed at this school, go to the principal's office,"

"What?" Malisa screams yanking hard on Jade's hair forcing her to meet the floor unceremonious, "That's not fair!"

"It most deffenitly is now!" He yells over her and points to the door.

Jade lays on the floor, not wanting to get up. _It's nice and cold down here, even though it smells like feet...and I have a bloody nose. It's so gross. And it will run onto my cloths, I have to ware these tomorrow. I don't have time to do the laundry tonight, I have work._

"Jade, are you alright?" Mr. Burns asks bending down to lend a helping hand.

"Yah, just peachy. Can you get me something to stop a bloody nose before I get off the ground, I don't want it running onto my shirt."

"You have a bloody nose?"

"Yes, if that's national news you can cover it later!" She says through her teeth. Why did people feel the need to repeat her?

"Alright, don't get snappy with me," He walks away and like normal, students begin forming a circle around her.

"Is she contentious?" She hears a girl ask.

"She's probably just faking,"

"Wait, is that blood?" Another girl screams and runs away.

"Here you go, now please get up, your causing a scean,"

"Not my fault Miss perfect decided to have a bad hair day," Jade takes the paper towel and puts it to her nose, then gets up and proceeds to the nurses office.

 _Why do I even bother coming back to school? I have to leave Brittney, and I'm not waiting another two years to do that...I should just drop out and work full time until I have enough money to leave and head to Gothem. I want to meet my father_. Her heart pounds at the thought of seeing her father. She can't even begin to imagine what he would look like. No pictures were found, no matter how deep she dug into the web.

Reaching the nurses office she steps in, "Oh no, what happened?"

"Nothing, I'm just here to use the sink until my blood decides to clot," She walks into the bathroom and locks the door with out another word.

After about five minutes, the nose bleed finally stops. She softly blows her nose, carful not to start it up again, washes her hands and splashes cold water on her face for good measure, then exists.

"Jade, I need to know what happened," The nurse says, cornering her in the door way, knowing from experience, this is the only way to make the small recluse talk.

"Marissa yanked my hair and I fell," She slides past the skinny brown haired nurse, "Like I said, nothing. I'm going back to class now,"

Making her way down the hall, she checks the clocks, "It's time for choir," She says to herself, picking up the pace slightly. She loved her choir class. Singing was her excape from the world. When she sang, the only thing she had to focus on was the words. That's it. She didn't have to think about the world around her or her problems. She would sing just about anything. Put music in front of her and she would get lost in it. They would be having a concert coming up in a month. She wouldn't be there long enough. She had made up her mind laying on the floor. She was done with this school. She was done with this town. She was leaving. She just had to save up money.

She walked into the choir room, _One more month of this, then I can leave. By that time, I'll have $1664 plus my two week notice. And if I'm quitting school, I can work Saturdays to, which means by the end date, I'll have saved up $2,496. so my ending date will be...Today is October twenty second._

"Welcome back, Jade. It's so good to have you back with us," smiles as she walks in.

"Yah, hi,"

"Where have you been?"

"Seeing to my mother's last wishes,"

The teacher's face grows pail, "What?"

"My mom died five days ago," suddenly the teacher runs to her and wraps her arms around her frail frame.

"I'm so sorry about your loss. If there is anything I can help you with, please, let me know,"

"Yah, okay." She pulls the teacher off, never one for pyicical interaction.

"Alright class, settle down," She goes back behind the piano while Jade finds her place among the other fifteen other students, "Take it from the top,"

She looks around her honor's choir class, they had some new arrivals while she was gone. Mostly freshman.

After going over the same some about three times, the begin try outs for solo's at the concert. Ten girls go out of the fifteen.

"Jade, aren't you going to try?" asks looking up from the her music.

"No, I'll pass this time around," Every one in the class turns to look at her, "Take a picture, it lasts longer," She crosses her arms and looks down at her feet.

The rest of the day goes by as normal. Finally three fifteen rolls around. Finally, freedom from annoying people. She begins the treck home, yawning widely.

"Welcome home, Jade,"

"Yah, hi,"

"How was school?"

"Okay," Jade walks to her room and closes the door. _I need to go onto first shift so I can drop out, and Brittney won't find out for a while. I can just hack into the school system's attendance and change them every day. It will take at least a month for them to realize that there is something wrong. I can talk to my boss when I get to work tonight._

She throws her book bag into the corner and flops onto her bed.

She wakes up with a start seven hours later, sweating and panting in fear. _That dream again_. She puts her right hand to her head, trying to calm down. She gets ready for work, pushing it out of her mind.

"Sir, I need to talk to you," She walks up to her boss. Having left slightly early for work.

"Yah, what is it?"

"I need to go onto first shift,"

"Why?"

"Family problems."

"Oh? I thought your mother died,"

"Yes, that's why I don't want to be on third shift any more. It was simply to work around her schedule, and since she is now gone, I would like a change of pace,"

"Sure. You start in two days," The well built blond haired man swivels in his desk chair to face her, "Now get to work," He points to the door, his dark blue eyes narrowing at her.

With out another word, she walks out into the mill to start her eight hour shift.

"Lesily," her supervisor stops her before she leaves, "I just wanted to make sure you knew, you have tomorrow off to get your body onto first shift. Your start time will be eight in the morning," Kady walks closer, "It's going to be hard not having a hard worker like you around,"

"You'll manage," Is all Jade says as she walks out of the building, fatuige setting deep into her bones.

A day off sounds divine. She thinks to herself walking home as the sun lazily rises.

Getting home, she goes straight to bed.

"Jade, you need to wake up and go to school," Brittney knocks on her door, waking Jade up from a half hour nap.

"I don't feel good," Jade tilts her head off the bed, making her sound congested.

"Oh, did you catch a cold?"

"Yah, I think so. I don't think I should go to school today. I don't want this passed around," She coughs loudly and facks some rather loud sniffles.

"Alright, you just get some rest, I need to go to work. Try to feel better,"

"Yah, okay," She hears Brittney turn and walk away, her heals making louder than necessary noise on the tile floor as she leaves.

Getting up, she grabs her lap top off her desk and plops back onto her bed. _Hm, I have four hits for the iteams I posted._ She opens them all up in different tabs. _One is for my desk, $600. At least they got the over five right, the other is $750!? Sweet, well sir, you are the winner._ She types into the small box to pick it up tomorrow at three in the afternoon, or he could pick it up today any time before four. She turns her attention to the other two, for her mother's dresser. _Another dumb ass, four hundred?_ She resists the temptation to bitch him out, until she see's the other bid, _$800?! Sweet!_ She types the same information into the box and sends them out. Posting that the bidding for the iteams had ended. Getting a reply back quickly about her desk, the person stating they would pick it up in a half hour. She agrees telling him that he needs to pay in cash, and take it out of the house himself. The dresser replies ten minutes later saying they would pick it up the next day.

The next few weeks go by quickly as Jade starts working days. Brittney never suspecting a thing.

 _Tomorrow, I will be gone_. She sits on her bed and looks around the room nostalgically. Sighing, she gets up and begins packing. She thinks back to her coworkers good byes and hopes for success. _I wonder if any one will miss me?_ She asks herself as she packs her two bags of the items she still has to her name. _That's a stupid question. No one exept Brittney will miss me, but I know she will move on in time._ Once done with the small amount of packing, she lays back onto her bed, wanting to leave earily in the morning so she won't have to talk to Brittney after she wakes up.

Falling asleep quickly, having the same nightmare, only this time, getting a better glimpse at death. For the second she has before her horror filled delusion ends, death is consumed by a giant bat.

Jolting up in bed after her dream death, sweat dripping off her as she breaths heavily. She looks over at the clock now kept on the floor. The retna pirsing, red digits saying it was four in the morning.

I guess it's time to go. She pulls herself out of bed and grabs her two bags. One filled with anything from clothing to pepper spray and everything in between she could think she needed. The other bag is filled with her personal documents, money, her mother's ashes and a book of maps of the USA. Alright Mom, here we go. Closing the door, she begins the 1030 mile trip. Before leaving through the kitchen door, she places her key on the table, takes one last look around, then closes the door, forcing herself not to get sentimental.


	3. back packing

So I realized that making each day another chapter was a bit off putting for some readers, so I condensed her whole trip into one chapter. (Honestly, you can skip this, it's simply a character building area for the readers to get to know Jade and what she's like on her own.) That, and it would be stupid to just have her magically appear in Gothem. Please enjoy;

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reaching the bus station by foot takes her about an hour. She didn't want to use any of the ones available by the house or the court house, not ready or willing to face her today, or ever for that matter. Sitting down on the bench, she waits, pulling out a hoodie and pulling it over her head. Her breath visible in small puffs of clouds in the chilly late fall morning.

For about a half hour she entertains herself with what she deemed easy math problems in her head until an elderly man joins her on the bench.

"Why hello there, youngin'," He greets sweetly groaning slightly as he sits, "What are you doin' up so early?"

"Leaving,"

"Oh? Where you headed if ya' don't mind my pryin',"

"New Jersey,"

"New Jersey? My that's a long ways away for a younin' like you,"

"Well, I need to be a long ways away to..." Am I starting over?

She see's the man smile next to her, "You know, not all your problems will be solved by runnin' away,"

"I'm not running away, I know my problems will follow me, I just need something new,"

"Yes, sometimes we all need a new piece of scenery now and then,"

"Where are you headed to?" Besides the majority of the population, she enjoyed conversing with the older generation. They actually still had common sense intact. And every time she would talk to one of them, she always left thinking. She loved it. Loved the thrill of having something to mull over in her brain until she finally understood it.

"Me? Oh, I'm just headed to the good ol' chiropractor to set these old bones back into shape for a while,"

"Oh," A peaceful silence settled between them as their breaths fade.

"Who are you leavin' behind?" He asks, looking up into the sky as if seeing something written up there.

"No one,"

"No one? What about your family?"

"Don't have one any more,"

"Oh?"

"Never had a father, and mother recently died,"

"So young," He places his warm, wrinkled hand on hers, "Sometimes, it's a blessing," He smiles at her, "No more pain for them, but sadly, more of a burden to carry for us,"

"Not really, it is a blessing to have her move on, but I have less burdens than I did when she was diagnosed," Just as the man was about to ask more, the bus pulls up.

She allows him to get on first. As she steps on, she looks to the driver, "How far can you take me toward Manitowoc?" She asks dropping a dollar fifty into the box.

"I can get you to Hortonville,"

"Good enough for me," She takes her seat nearest to the driver and braces herself for the long trip ahead.

After about an hour and a half of the bus making frequent stops to either let people on or off, the man she was talking with getting off at the third stop and waving good bye, the Hortonville sign finally appears. She grabs her luggage and prepares to exit. She gets dropped off at the police station. Taking a fifteen minute walk, she stops at Kwik Trip to get something to eat and stock up on water while looking for the next bus scheduled.

"Excuse me, where are your bus schedules?" She asks the cashier who rings her up, clearly not enjoying his job as he grumbles the amount she owes.

"We don't have a bus here,"

"What is the next town going toward Manitowoc?"

"I don't know," The man shoves her the plastic bag after she pays him the thirty five dollars for a fruit cup, vegetable cup, a chicken burger, protein drink and ten bottles of water.

"Wow, your helpful,"

"I don't get paid enough to give directions, girl,"

"Fair enough," The man is taken by surprise, thinking she would explode, not agreeing with him.

Exiting the brick building, she eats on the curb and pulls out the map book. _Alright, the next town over is Readfeild. I doubt that has a bus system either... The next is Larsen. That's so tiny, I'm amazed it's on the damn map._ She growls softly in frustration. _I really don't want to take a taxi because they are so expensive, but I don't think I have much of a choice right now. I don't feel like walking thirty miles to get to Oshkosh._ She looks up at her surroundings while taking a drink from one of the water bottles she bought, looking in vain for an idea to hit her. Not comming up with anything after about ten minutes, she sighs heavily. _I guess I can walk to Readfeild and see what to do from there._ She begins walking after stuffing all the water into her duffel bag, then throwing that and her backpack up onto her back. _Alright, Larsen is south._

Two hours of endless walking on the side of the highway, she finally sits down in the grass off to the side for a quick brake. _I'm going to have to stay at a motel tonight. I can't make it to Larsen, not today._ She taks out a new water bottle and begins to drink. _I don't know, maybe I can. Larsen is just another three and a half hours away from Readfeild._ She packs herself up again and stands, ready to continue. _I'll see what happens when I get there I guess._

After about another hour and a half she greets the Readfeild sign with a small smile.

 _I need to get something to eat here, or I'm going to collapse the way I'm going._ She continues to walk until she actually reaches the town, about another twenty minutes. _Oh thank God, they have a sports bar!_ She picks up her speed slightly.

Reaching the door she is abruptly stopped by the CLOSED sign, "Are you kidding me?" She yells kicking the small concert step leading to her food source.

"Hay what's up?" A males voice asks from behind her.

"Do you live in the town?"

"Yah, what's up?"

"Where can I buy food NOW?" She asks getting irritated.

"Well, unless you want to go to Freemont, there's nothing open right now in town," He says, his teeth a brillant white against his dark skin and poofy black hair.

"That's over an hour away," She groans as her stomach begins to make it's presence known.

The boy chuckles, "Here, I'll tell you what, I'm headed up that way to get some bread for my mom, you can hitch a ride with me on my bike,"

"Really?" Her eyes beam as she mentally does a quick checklist of the self defense objects she has stored away. Finding that the only thing she has is pepper spray, "Sure, I'll go with you, just give me a second to drink some water, you want some?" She offers him a bottle to which he declines, pulling out his own from his cargo shorts.

She digs in her bag and quickly puts the pepper spray into her front pocket, turned away from him and pulls out the water and takes a long drink, downing half the bottle.

"You ready?" He asks as she hops up onto his pegs on the back of his bike, her Convers bending to conform to the small foot bars.

"Yes," She grabs his shoulders as he begins to ride.

About ten minutes into the ride, "So, where you headed to? You look like a run away,"

"New Jersey," She thinks about the word runaway. Am I a run away? It's not like I'm running from anyone, just moving. Deducing that small problem, "I'm not a run away, just looking for something new,"

The rest of the ride is silent, and with in twenty five minutes, they reach Fremont.

"I really appreciate it," She thanks him as he drops her off at a Mobile gas station. Looking across the street she see's a bus stop sign, "Man, your a life savior!" She gives him a handshake, then he is on his way.

She goes in and out of the store quickly, learning that the bus will arrive in about another fifteen minutes. At the stop she stuffs her face full of fruit, vegetables and three cheese burgers and another protein shake.

Right as she finishes, the bus pulls up, "How far can you go toward Oshkosh?"

"I can get you to Larsen,"

"Good enough for me," She takes a seat right behind the female driver.

It only takes eighteen minutes to get there, but that was enough time for her to rest her legs.

The bus stops her at city hall, she sits on the steps, takes a few more drinks of her fifth water bottle, then pulls out her book of maps. _Let's see, Larsen...The next town over is Allenville. Hm...Thats about five miles away, so about two hours to get there. I can just walk there._

Standing up, she starts on her way.

About two hours later, she reaches Allenville. Once into town, she pulls out her phone. _Its two in the afternoon? It feels so much later than that._ Sitting on the curb, she pulls out her map again. _Next town is Oshkosh. It's about three hours away by foot, and this tiny town dosn't have a bus. Let's see, I'll get there around five at night._ She stands after taking more water, _I'll have to find a hotel there and stay the night. No way around it, I'm not stupid enough to go walking at night._

Three hours later, she meets the Oshkosh sign. It takes her another fifteen minutes to find a gas station, "What's the cheapest hotel that doesn't have roaches here?" She asks the cashier. The middle aged woman looks at her like she can't believe what just came out of her mouth.

"I think that would be Motel 6,"

"Thanks," She grabs a snickers from at her waist on a small shelf and slaps it on the counter.

"Three twenty five please,"

Putting the money on the counter, she leaves munching on her candy after getting directions.

Reaching the motel, she checks in, paying up front of seventy dollars and gets a room on the second floor with one queen bed.

Once setting her luggage down, she quickly goes into the rest room to freshen up, then goes to bed. Exhausted not even describing it as she quickly falls to sleep.

After having the same dream twice in one night, she finally decides it's time to get out of bed at nine in the morning. Pulling out her maps, she begins to trace the rout she wanted to take.

"I wonder what the weather will be like today," She asks herself, clicking on the T.V to the weather channel, "Sixty eight today," She turns back to her maps, "I'll have to pick more water up, I only have two," She grabs one and downs the whole thing, "One left," She puts the maps back, then takes check of her money, "That's surprising, I've only spent $126.25 yesterday. That means I have $3,373.75. Awesome," She begins rounding her things up and reorginzing her duffel bag, then getting back into her cloths, "I'll need to get breakfast some where before I do anything else," She loads herself up, then leaves the room.

"How was your night?" The clerk asks her as she turns her key in.

"Good, where is the closes and cheapest place to get breakfast?"

"Hm, that would probably be Perkins, but if you really want a bang for your buck, you should go to Goldan Coral for an all you can eat breakfast," The clerk advises wtih a smile.

"Thanks. By the way, when will the bus be here?"

"In about five minutes actually,"

"Thank you,"

Shortly after she reaches the stop, the bus pulls up, dropping one dollar fifty cents in, "Where's the closest to Golden Coral?"

"I can drop you off there,"

"Thanks,"

Taking a seat in her usual position, she begins her day of travel once again. With in three minutes she exits the bus and enters the buffet, her stomach approving loudly.

"Fifteen dollars please," Handing the cashier the money, "What would you like to drink?"

"Coffee,"

After six plates stacked with anything and everything she could get high in protein, she leaves, waiting at the bus stop. I need to get water. She reminds herself.

"Where to?" The driver asks as she puts more money in the box.

"Convenience center,"

Fifteen minutes later she is standing in front of the doors. Entering the doors, it takes a no time to find the bottled water. She grabs ten, then checks out, "Thirteen eighty five," After paying, she shoves all of them into her bag, then sits at the bus stop once again. "Alright, the next town over is Van Dyan, but I want to get to Milwukee by six tonight," She says to her self, pulling out her phone, it's about eleven thirty.

The bus pulls up as she puts her map book away, "Where to?"

"How far can you get me to Milwaukee?" She asks putting dollar fifty into the box.

"Fon Du Lac,"

Fourty five minutes later, she gets off at Target. She walks into the store, covered in red.

"Where is the nearest bus station?" She asks the customer service. They hand her a bus pass. I think I might just be collecting these. Well, they're better than post cards, because their free. She smiles at herself as she leaves the store. _The next bus stop for here in town is at Walmart on North Rolling St_. She pulls out her map book and turns to Fond Du Lac. It's just south of here. Putting both away, she begins walking.

Walking through parking lots and grass, she reaches the store in about ten minutes, Alright, it's going on noon, so the bus will be here in about three minutes. Sitting on the little bench, she pulls out her map. _Next town is Lomira. With my streak, that's where they will drop me off._

"Where to?"

"Lomira or further south,"

"Lomira," She drops dollar fifty and takes a seat.

Twenty minutes later she exits at a business called ADESA of Eastern Wisconsin. Walking into the business surrounded by farms, "Where is the nearest bus stop?"

"We don't have one,"

"Thanks,"

Exiting the business she sits in front of the business and pulls out her map. _The next town over is St. Anthony which is really small. Next is Allenton, which is even smaller. My only hope right now is Cedar Lake. Which is twenty two miles away! God it's going to take me all day to get there_! She groans shoving her map back into her bag. _Well, no one said it would be easy._ She begins south, determination coursing through her vains.

Three hours of walking, she takes a break and sits in a corn field off the side of highway forty one, vehicles rushing by her going over sixty. She takes out a water and downs the whole thing and sits for a while, letting the ack in her feet dull slightly, "When I get to St. Anthony, I need to pick up some food," Her stomach growls in approval of the thought, "Alright, well, here we go," She pulls herself up and begins again. Two and a half hours later, she enters .

"Finally!" She groans as she enters the town. She keeps walking, "House, house, house, where the fuck is a restaurant?" She yells under her breath. She makes it to the city hall only to have her answer, "This is a farming town, isn't it?" She sighs heavily, continuing through town, wanting to get to Allenton before eight at night. Pulling out her map with out stoping, "Well, at least it's only two miles away, less than an hour," Grumbling, she keeps going.

As the sun begins setting under the horizon she reaches Allenton. Right as she enters the town, her stomach leaps for joy, "Subway!" She almost sprints to the eatery, swinging open the door, her mouth begins to water at the smell.

"Hi, how can I help you?"

"Hi, can I get a foot long italian and herb as a cold cut combo?"

"Sure," She follows down the small line, telling the girl about her age behind the counter what she wants.

"Do you have any hotels here in town?"

"Yes, we have American Inn just east of here,"

"Thanks," She takes a seat in the reasturant and completly pigs out, shoving the huge sandwich into her mouth.

"So much better," She sighs sitting back in the seat, letting her stomach do it's work for a little bit before starting out again.

She goes to the door where they have a few maps of the town, "Wait a minute, American inn is in the next town?" She looks around the map, "They don't have ANY hotels here," She grumbles angrily, "The closest is Ceader Lake Motel which is in Slinger. That's eight miles away. I won't get there in time to even get a room," She sighs and walks out of the business, "Fucking wonderful," She begins walking, "Well, I did plan for this, but I don't want to sleep in my nap sack, or I can keep walking and tempt fate on the highway, at night, alone," She laughs at herself for even thinking that, "Alright, nap sake it is,"

She comes to an elementary school, jumps the fence and pulls out her nap sack and settles in. _I can set my alarm for five am so I can leave before any one gets here._ She falls asleep quickly listening to millions of crickets around her.

She is suddenly startled awake by her alarm ringing by her head. Her body jerks her awake fear flowing through her, until she realizes there is no threat present.

Yawning, and stretching, she sits up under a large jungle gym. _Why did I set my alarm so early?_ She groans as she stands to roll her make shift bed back up, _the sun isn't even up yet_. Getting out from under the plat form, she heads back into town, seeing a small caf'e yesterday.

Taking the short trip up to the Alma's caf'e she frowns at the sign. Opens at six AM, "Well, that's only about another ten minute," She sits on a bench and pulls out her map, "The next town is Ceader Lake, that's about six miles, so that will take me roughly two and half hours to get there," She looks forward, "After that is Richfield. I can just skip right through Ceader Lake and get to Richfield then get something to eat there. That will take me about five hours. After that is Minnominee falls. That will take me two and half hours, then." She pulls the map closer, not believing what she's seeing, "I can make it out of Wisconsin into Michigan by tomorrow if I can get to Millwaukee onto the farrie!" She cheers in her head as the door unlocks to the caf'e.

"Good morning," A waitress greets with a smile letting Jade into the small building. She takes a seat at the counter and is handed a menu.

"I'll have the steak and eggs please with a coffee,"

"Sure thing dear,"

She eats quickly, filling up for the long day ahead of her.

"That will be nine teen eighty five please," She hands her a twenty and walks out.

"Alright, here we go," She begins her day.

Three hours after walking on the freeway, she sit in a corn feild, pulling out a water bottle and downing the whole thing. Shortly after, she rises and starts again, determined to get on the farrie by the end of the day.

Two hours later, she is walking through Richfield toward Menonomee Falls.

After another two and a half hours, she enters Menonomee falls, "Alright, lunch time," As she walks through town, she comes across a chinese buffet, "Oh my God! Yummy!" She bounds through the door, her stomach happy for a lunch for the first time in three days.

Taking a seat she orders a lemonade and goes up to get her food.

After an hour, eight plates and twenty five dollars later, she's back on her way toward Millwaukee, excitment rushing through her.

Four hours later, she takes a break in a medow. Watching the butterflies flutter about as she downs two water bottles. She takes a deep breath, smelling the wild life around her.

An hour later, she reaches Millwaukee, a sigh of reliefe at making it as the sun goes down.

Making her way to city hall, "Can I help you?" A woman behind bullet proof glass asks in a police uniform.

"When will the Farrie be back?"

"In two days," Two days, that's not so bad. I can catch up on sleep and get a day of rest in there.

"What time?"

"Eight in the morning,"

"Thank you,"

Walking out she begins toward the center of town where she knows hotels will be.

An hour and fourty minutes later, she walks through a Best Western and checks in getting a room on the ground floor.

Walking in, she puts her luggage down in the one queen bed room and goes into the bathroom to take a hot bath and get ready for bed.

"This will be nice to take a day off so to speak," She sighs as she sinks into the water, feeling her aking muscles relax slightly.

Getting out of the tub after an hour and half, she checks her phone, "Thrity missed calls and twenty messages," She puts her phone on the side table and plugs it in, "I'll deal with it tomorrow," She sighs heavily and settles into the soft bed.

The next morning, she wakes up at nine in the morning, throws a baggy sweater on, and heads to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"Today's top story is," She blocks out the T.V news caster, not caring what is going on else where. _All it is on the news is crap stories that bring the emotions down any way. Almost nothing of importance to the average person_. Is how she figured it as she sits with her third plate of food and fifth cup of orange juice. I should find a laundry mat...Wait, I bet this hotel has dry cleaning services. I'll ask the front desk when I head back to my room.

After a total of six plates of food, she talks to the receptionist.

"Yes, we do, just leave them outside your room and I'll have some one come and pick them up, and have them back to you later today," She explains with a sickingly sweet smile. She thanks her, does as she is told and grabs her phone.

"Alright, let's get this done and over with. She diles her voice mail and waits for the annoying lady to tell her things she already knew.

"Jade? Where are you? Why haven't you been going to school for a month?" Brittney yells into the speaker. Jade deletes the message quickly.

"Jade, where are you? It's been a whole day and you haven't come home, everything is gone from your room, please, just tell me your alright," Again she deletes the message.

Eighteen more messages of Brittney either crying, begging, yelling or threatening telling her she needs to call her or come home, neither of which she would do.

"God, that woman can be so annoying," She complains once she deletes all the messages, now having a splitting headache. She lays back in bed and turns on the T.V quickly turning on the Science channel.

A few hours later, she suddenly wakes up, not remembering she fell asleep. Looking around, in a daze she looks out the windows to see the sun setting, "Are you kidding me?" She yells, "I slept ALL day?" she grumbles turning the T.V off, "Well, I guess I needed it," She buries herself deeper into the covers and falls back asleep.

"Jade, don't do this,"

"Who is that?" She yells in a stark white room.

"Jade, you can't do this," The voice says again.

"Mom?" Tears begin falling down her face.

"Jade, go back home,"

"I can't do that, Mom, I'm sorry,"

"Go back,"

"No!" She sobs harder, "I love you Mom,"

She sits up quickly in bed, sunlight filtering in through her windows. Sweat running down her face mixing with tears, "Another dream," Remembering her cloths were done last night, she goes to the door and opens it to see them neatly folded to the left of the door, "It's seven thirty!?" She rushes around her room, then runs to the desk slapping two hundred dollars and her key on the counter, out to a bus stop right across the street.

"Wait! I'm here!" She yells waving her arm in the air. Luckily, the bus waits for her to get on.

"Where to?"

"Farry dock," She puts a dollar fifty into the box and takes a seat.

In ten minutes she is dropped off.

"Where are you headed?" A grumpy looking man asks from behind a tall counter.

"Grand Rapids,"

"We can only get you to Muskegun,"

"That's fine,"

"Two hundred dollars," She slaps the money on the table, is given a ticket and boards the enormous boat.

"Ticket please," She hands a woman the ticket, "Welcome aboard,"

"Made it," She sighs, sitting on a bench against the middle of the ship.

Twenty minutes later, the Farrie leaves the port.

Standing on the side, watching the dark water rush by, she breaths in deeply, feeling a weight she didn't know she was carrying lift off her shoulders. _No turning back now. It feels good to leave Wisconsin behind._ She pulls out her mother's letter and reads through it again. _I'm sorry Mom, but I need to do this for me_. With out a second thought, she lets go of the paper and watches it dance on the wind before getting sucked deep into the water. Again, she feels weight lifting.

Four hours later, they reach the docks at the bank of Michigan, Muskgon to be exact.

Leaving the boat, she pulls out her map after taking a seat on a small dock bench, "Alright, Grand Rapids is too far away, I won't make it there until midnight at the earliest, so the next town over is Nunica. That will take me about six hours to get there. It's noon now, and the town after Nunica is Coppersville, which would take another three hours, so Nunica will be my stop for the night." Putting her map away, she begins the journey.

Three hours into it, she takes a break, pulling out a bottle of water. Two waters later, she gets right back to it.

Three hours later, she enters the town of Nunica. Population 3,256. Shivering, she wraps her arms around herself as the chilly autom air rushes past her in her jean shorts, convers, and red tank top. Making her way into down town, she stops at the Nunica EZ mart. I haven't eaten since breakfast. She thinks walking around the store and pick up three burgers, two cups of fruit and three cup of vegetables, two protein drinks and a twenty four pack of water bottles.

"Having a party?" The cashier asks as she walks up to the counter, feeling light headed and panting while preforming a balancing act.

"No, just walked sixteen miles and haven't eaten since eight this morning," She says back, having an attitude when hungry.

"Ok then..." He surrenders, "twenty five dollars please," She slaps the money on the table and walks out of the small store.

Sitting on the curb, watching cars roll in to gas up, then roll back out as she eats quickly. After eating everything in a record fifteen minutes, she unpacks the water and throws it all into her duffel bag, stands and walks toward down town. Suddenly she turns around and returns back into the store.

"Back already?" The Cashier asks humoresly.

"Do you have any hotels here in town?"

"No, the nearest hotels are either in Coppersville or Grand Haven,"

"Are you kidding me?" She asks slumping her shoulders in defeat, "Alright, are there any schools here in town?"

"Yah, it's down on Lenoard road, about an hour's walk from here,"

"'K, thanks," Again, she leaves the small convience store and prepares herself mentally for another night sleeping on woodchips.

An hour and a half later, she reaches the school. Jumps the small gate and walks under a small jungle gym platform.

I wish I had packed some warmer cloths. She shivers as her breath becomes visibal as the sun sets below the shadow of the brick school building, _Can't be helped now._ She unrolls her sleeping bag, pulls out two paires of socks and a heavy pair of pants, putting on the hat her mother made her and another sweater. I'll need to wake up before the kids get here for school, so I'll be on my way around five in the morning. She climbs into her cold sleeping bag, reminding herself it will warm up shortly from her body heat. Pulling out her map book, and a small flashlight, she plans tomorrow.

 _I can make it to Grand Rapids in about eight hours. How much money do I have left?_ She pulls out her small coin purse and counts $3073.55. _Okay, I need to cut back on my spending a bit, which means, I need to cut out dinner expence and no bus travel_. She groans as she lays down into her sleeping bag, her body heat finally warming it slightly to take of the edge of the freezing night. Quickly she falls into a restless sleep.

Startled awake from her alarm she didn't know she set she bults up right, smacking her head on the low hanging platform above her.

"Son of a bitch!" She yells falling back down to her sleeping bag holding her forehead rolling slightly and hissing from pain. Crows caw in the distance, as if laughing at her pain. Once the pain is reduced to a slight throbbing, she crawls out of her bag, rolls it up in the dark morning, shivering as the cold air hits her neck and face, her breath visibal in large puffs as she begins breathing heavily, forcing herself to get warmer, excepting the shivering. Once packed, she crawls out from under the jungle gym and begins her day.

"First thing's first, I need breakfast,"

Walking for almost an hour, finding ten restaurants, all closed, she smells food. It makes her mouth water, and she begins walking slightly faster as the sun begins to lazily rise, almost as if not wanting to wake the world yet. Turning a corner, she is met with Burger King. Thank God. She swings the doors open and walks in.

"Good morning, how can I help you?" The cashier asks with a plastered smile.

After ordering, she sits in a booth at the back of the restaurant. _I might as well get something here for lunch. When I get to a gas station later, I'll pick up some protein drinks for dinner tonight_. Once she is done eating, she goes back up to the counter to order lunch.

"I'm sorry, ma'am we don't serve lunch this earley," The woman says, still with the stupid smile on her face.

"Alright, thanks any way," She walks out, on her way. I'll just hit up a gas station on the way.

After two hours of walking, she comes across a small gas station.

"Hello, how are you today?" An kind Asian man asks from behind the counter.

"Good, how are you?" She asks back nonchalantly. Walking through the store, she grabs a few protein shakes out of the cooler, and two burgers.

"Any gas?"

"No,"

"That will be twelve fifty eight," Putting the money on the counter. Getting change back, she walks out of the small store. Stuffing the bought iteams into her duffel, she continues on after downing a bottle of water.

Three hours pass by and she takes a break on the side of an old road. Grass land on either side. Hearing the birds sing and animals scurry, she takes a deep breath, and lets go of some pent of anger from having to sleep on the ground once again.

"I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but dammit, why can't I warm up?" She yells into the grass, still having all the clothing on from the night before, "When I get to Grand Rapids, I'm getting a hotel room and taking a long, hot bath," Downing two bottles of water, she trudges on.

Four more hours, pass and she comes up to Grand Rapids, "Thank God!" She yells into the sky as she picks up the pace slightly. _I must have caught a cold from sleeping in the cold last night, or else just have the chills_. She thinks as she enters the town.

Shortly after entering the town, she comes to the down town area and finds many hotels. _Let's see, I'll pick this America's Best Value Inn_. Quickly she walks in, wanting a soft bed to lay in and a hot bath.

"Hello, how can I help you?" A young man behind the counter asks.

"I'd like a room for the night please,"

"Sure, that will be seventy dollars, please,"

Putting down the money, she is given the key to the second floor.

As she climbs the stairs, she begins to feel dizzy, "Shit, I can't pass out here. I need to get to the room," She pushes herself to get to the room. Quickly she opens the door, slams it shut, drops her bags and flops onto the bed, breathing heavily.

Sweat drips from her forehead as she shivers, "Definitely have a cold," She grumbles, kicking off her shoes, taking off some layers and climbs into the soft bedding. Quickly she falls asleep.

 _It's too hot_ She thinks before opening her eyes to the dark room. _My fever must have finally broke_. A bit wobbly she gets up from the bed and makes the short trip to her duffel and pulls out three bottles of water. Going back to the bed she looks at the clock. _Nine eight teen? I slept for five hours?_ After drinking two of the bottles, she gets up, feeling a bit refreshed and walks to the bathroom to take the hot bath she wanted.

After filling the tub with hot water to the point the bathroom gets steamed up, she steps in slowly, feeling the water lick away her worries, aches, pains and stress. She sighs deeply a she sinks into the water, just her nose and up above the water. _I need to figure out where I need to get to tomorrow._ Grabbing the small bottles of shampoo, conditionar and body wash, she cleans herself of the dirt from last night and the sweat from the fever.

"Alright, tomorrow, I want to get to Elmdale, I can make a pit stop at Whitneyville for lunch. The whole trip will take me about nine and half hours. Alright. I still have the food I bought today, I'm sure they have breakfast here, if not, I can just have the protein drinks to get me to Whitneyville,"

With that in mind, she turns the light back off, and climbs back into bed and drifts off to sleep quickly.

The next morning, she wakes up coughing. Hard, she feels it in her chest as each one racks her body with pain that shoots up to her head. _What the hell, I thought it was over last night!_ She thinks trying to get up, only to fall to the floor, the room spinning around her. _Shit._ She tries again, but is only able to crawl to her bag to grab a bottle of water.

Forcing herself to stop coughing, she takes a few sips. Breathing deeply, she tries to calm her spamming lungs. Maybe some steam will help. Getting to her feet she slowly stumbles to the bathroom. Closes the door, plugs the sink and runs hot water. Waiting for the bathroom to steam up, she closes the lid to the toilet and sits down. _There's no way I can walk even one mile like this. I'll either have to go to the doctor, with no insurance, or take a plane._ As the bathroom steams up, she takes deep breaths, trying to get what ever is in her lungs out.

Suddenly, she becomes cold once again. Chills rack her body as she shivers, dizziness forces her to hold onto the edge of the sink. Pain in her chest makes it hard to breath. She begins wheezing loudly as she tries to catch her breath. _What is going on?_ Fear grips her chest _Am I going to die here?_ her breath becomes quicker. _Jade, calm down. You're not going to die here. It's just an illness. Nothing life threatening can strick with in a few seconds except blood clots, brain anurisum, and heart attack. Blood clots and brain anurisum can be ruled out because nothing but a head ach from the coughing is occurring up there. Heart attack, I'm not old enough for that. Calm down._ As she begins to think logically, she begins to calm down, her breathing becoming slighly easier. _Okay, apparently steam does nothing for this, I need to make it back to the bed and see if I can catch a plain to New Jersey._ with that in mind, she slowly stands, turns off the water, drains it, then makes her way back to the bed.

Opening her laptop she finds the air port. Coughing, begins again and she forces herself to drink more water, the only thing she has to attempt to comfort her burning chest.

 _I can get on a plane tomorrow from the air port here to Atlatic City in New Jersey nonstop. It will be two hundred and thrity dollars. I can do that. It will actually be cheaper than hitch hicking like I have been. Then I can just stay at a hotel, find a job then more to an appartmetn when I can save up enough money._ Closing up the laptop, she calls the air port to reserve her seat, then the front desk, requesting another night.

After all is said and done, she crawls back into bed and goes back to sleep, after setting her alarm for eight the next morning to make it to her flight at eleven.

The next morning, her alarm goes off with her getting about two hours of sleep from the coughing and new the vomiting that had ensued twice.

 _Alright, let's pack, call a cab and head out_. Slowly, she rises from the bed, sweat beading down her face as she slowly packs her bags up, and walks out of the room.

"I'll be checking out please," Her voice is horse and strained as she tries to speak to the receptionist who gives her a worried look.

"Are you alright, sweet heart?" She asks handing Jade her change back.

"Yah, it's just a cold,"

"Here, I have some loggins if you'd like some, free,"

"Thanks, I appreciate it," She takes the cheery flavored cough drops and pops one into her mouth, "Could you call me a cab for the air port?"

"Sure thing dear,"

After about ten minutes of waiting outside in the drizzleing rain under the awning, the taxi pulls up.

"To the air port,"

"Sure thing," Throwing her bags into the back seat, she follows. Closes the door, buckles her seat belt and they are off.

Silence, thankfully is what surrounds the older man with a thining gray hair line and wrinkles with brown eyes for the next half hour.

Finally, they reach the air port. The driver gets out and helps Jade with her bags after watching her struggle slightly.

"So, where you headed?" He asks with a Texas accent.

"New Jersey," She responds horsly as they enter the self opening doors.

"What's wait'n over there?"

"Not sure, hopefully a new start,"

"Yah, that's what I found here," He smiles at her as they make their way up to the front desk, "Good luck,"

"Thanks," She turns to the male receptionest with slicked back black hair.

"Name please,"

"Jade Clines,"

"Two hundred and thirty dollars please,"

She hands him the money and he points to the luggage convaor and tells her gate four.

Throwing her bags up onto the convaor she makes her way to gate four and waits for the loud speaker to call for the loading to begin.

Twenty five minutes pass when the loud speaker finally calls her gate.

After loading the plain and hearing one of the sturdiest explain the 'incase of emergencies' procedures the begin their lift off, and she begins to fall asleep.


	4. New beginning?

Two and a half hours pass when she feels the plain shift. Opening her eyes she see's the seat belt light on. Still having her's on from the take off, she ignores it, but forces herself to stay awake, knowing they are landing.

"Please watch your step," The sturidest plasters a fake smile on her face as she repeats it about one hundred times to each passenger.

After exiting the plane, she grabs her luggage and calls a cab.

"Where are you headed?" A female driver asks as Jade repeats the actions back in Michigan.

"Where is Gothem located?"

"Two hours away, that's going to be a hefty fee if you want me to drive you all the way there," The heavy set woman blows a pink bubble and pops it loudly, looking back at her.

"Will one fifty cover the hefty fee?"

"Sure," She starts up the care and they are off.

Two hours pass with not a single word uttered between the two, Jade very thankfull for the fact.

"Where?" The lady finally asks as they pass the city sign.

"At a cheap hotel,"

After another thirty minutes, she drops Jade off at the entrance of a motel 8. Thanking the driver one last time, she hauls her bags through the push door into the small lobby area, "How much is it a night?"

"Sixty dollars a night," The man behind the counter replies boardly twirling a red pen between his fingers.

"I'd like to stay here please,"

"How long,"

"Not sure yet,"

"Alright," He stretches and yawns loudly, "Room seven," Taking the room key she walks out of the lobby and finds room seven.

Cool, they have a dresser. She quickly begins to sort her cloths from dirty to clean. The clean go directly into the small dresser. Once done, she throws all her dirty cloths back into her duffle, grabs the key and her money and heads out to a laundry mat she saw close by in the taxi. Once outside, another coughing fit begins. I need to pick up some cough syurp, and some day-quil, and green tea, and a job. Once the coughing passes she continues to the laundry mat.

Throwing her cloths and soap she bought there, she starts up the small washer and makes her way to the Walgreen's across the street.

"Hello, I'd like the usual please," The teenaged, black haired boy says in front of her to the pharmisist who nods her head with a smile.

"I do hope he feel's better soon," She hands him a small pill bottle, "He is such a good man. Tell him to get well soon,"

"Will do, thanks," He turns around and almost bumps into her, "Sorry about that," He smiles at her.

"Well, if you didn't ware your sunglasses in doors you wouldn't have that problem, now would you?" She grumbles back. He just laughs at her and runs out.

"What can I get you dear?"

"Yah, hi, I'd like some cough syurp and day-quill,"

"Certinly, dear," She turns around and grabs the desired medication, "Not feeling quite right?" She asks a slight concern in her eyes as Jade pulls out the money for her.

"No, not really. This awful cough won't go away," Just as she says that, one of the worst attacks begins. The burning, stabbing pain asults her chest as she gasps for breath being brought down to her knees.

"Oh Goodness, Huny!" The woman runs out for behind the counter to try and help any way she can. Rubbing her back, turns out, is all she can do as she waits for Jade to pull through.

After about ten minutes it begins to die down. Jade pulls her hand away to find little bits of blood on her hand. Her eyes grow wide in horror and she begins to shake, remembering back to when her mother first began radiaton and caught a cold.

"Dear, you need to calm down, it will just happen again, the blood is just from your throat. It's like a cut down there, it's just bleeding because you were coughing so hard, it's alright," The woman wraps her arms around Jade, trying to calm her down before the same thing happens. Slowly, Jade begins to breath deeply, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Forcing herself to get some ground on the situation.

"I'm sorry," She finally whispers, her voice going back to a horse whisper.

"Don't be sorry for something you can't control. Now, these should help for a while, but you really need to go see a doctor. It sounds like you might have phnamonia. That's nothing to fool around with,"

"Yah, okay, thank you," She pays for the medication and as quickly as she can rushes out of the building, embarassment flooding her as her face becomes red making her way across the street back to the laundry mat.

Fourty minutes later, her laundry is done, and it's time to go back to the motel.

What the hell, it was so much easier getting here, now it feels like I'm walking up a mountin getting back...Maybe I should go see a doctor before this gets too out of hand. With the goal in mind, she finally makes it back to her room.

After putting everything in a place in her new room, she pulls out her laptop and searches doctors in the area.

Getting the number to one a mile away, she calls and makes an appointment for the next day at eight in the morning.

After that, she reads the lables to the medication and takes two table spoons of the cough syrupe and goes to bed. I'll look for a job on Thursday. She thinks as she falls alseep.


	5. Looking up

"Well, Ms. Clines, it looks like you have phnamonia alright. Don't worry, I can give you some medication to kick that bugger's butt," The doctor smiles up at the exhausted looking girl only to have her slowly blink at him, not entertained in the slightest, "Alright, I know you want to go back to bed, so here is the percription, and you said Walgreen's on Evergreen street?"

"Yes,"

"Alright, it should be ready for you to pick up when you get there. If you have any question's don't be afraid to call, and keep taking the cough syrupe until you feel you don't need it any more. Get better soon," Doctor Bean see's her to the door.

"Welcome back dear, how are you feeling?" The pharmisist from the day before asks with a bright, chearry smile.

"I want this tourture to be over," She grumbles making her way up to the counter.

"Name dear,"

"Jade Clines,"

"Ah yes, here you are huny, take one pill twice a day until they are all gone. Make sure you take it with food,"

"K, thanks,"

"I hope to see you soon, feeling much better,"

"Bye,"

Jade makes her way back to the hotel only to stop before crossing the street. when was the last time I ate? She turns from the cross walk and walks toward a reasturant down the block.

After a satifing meal she goes back to the motel to take the medication and begin looking for work online.

After filling out several applications at all different types of jobs she closes the lap top and takes a nap, feeling the cough syrup kicking in.

After what felt like several minutes, her phone begin to ring. Looking at the number to see it's not a wisconsin number, she picks it up and tries to sound much more awake than she actually feels.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Jade Clines?" A strict woman asks on the other line.

"Yes, ma'am it is," She sits up straight in bed.

"I took a look at your application you sent in for a bakery position here at Jenny's grochry store. I would like you to come in for an interview tomorrow at nine in the morning, can you do that?"

"Yes, ma'am, I can do that. Nine in the morning tomorrow at Jenny's Grochrie store, sounds wonderful, thank you so much for your time,"

"Yes, see you tomorrow,"

Wow, that was really fast. She thinks, setting her clock for seven in the morning. Then she falls back to sleep.

"Good morning, Miss Clines," The woman from the phone greets her in the office.

"Good morning, Ma'am,"

"Please take a seat," Jade obays, "My name is Kim Mayers, I am so happy you could make it today,"

"I am delighted to be here,"

"Now, I see that you have had two other jobs in the past, but nothing to do with food," She looks Jade in the eyes, "Are you a fast learner?"

"Yes ma'am,"

"Then why don't you have a highschool diploma?"

"I dropped out, Ma'am,"

"Why?"

"To pay for my mother's medical bills after she couldn't work any longer,"

"Really?" Kim is caught off guard, expecting some half assed reason like she 'didn't want to go.'

"What is wrong with your mother, if I might ask,"

"Was, it was breast cancer,"

"Oh, was? So she is doing better?"

"No, she's dead," Jade says this with a straight face, not one flinch.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that," She looks back down at the paper in her hands, "It looks like you quite both of your jobs, how come?"

"The first one didn't pay me enough and they refused to give me more hours, the second one so I could come up here,"

"Why did you come here?"

"I'm looking for my father,"

"Oh, does he know about your mother?"

"Ma'am with all do respect, can we not talk about my family life? This is a job interview, not Doctor Phil,"

"Um...Yes, sorry," She clears her throat and refocouses, "How are your customer service skills?"

"Adiquite. I tell people either what they need to hear or want to hear," Jade smirks slightly, "Which one would you like for the customers?"

"What they want to hear. How are your math skills?"

"I was top of my advanced collage mathmatics class,"

"Oh? Can I test that?"

"As you see fit,"

Kim hands her a three page work sheet to fill out and sets a timer for thirty minutes. After fifteen, Jade slides the paper back to her on the desk, "Are you giving up?"

"No, I am finished with it,"

Kim gives her a skeptical look before scanning over all the anwers, "Alright, that will be all, I will keep you in mind, plan to hear from me tomorrow,"

"Thank you for the opportunity," Jade shakes Kim's hand and walks out, her dress pants and shirt itching like crazy as she exits the store.

"So, how was it kid?" The driver who brought her from the airport to the motel who she now knows as Marg asks as Jade opens the door and climbs in.

"I think I'll get it,"

"Why are you so confident?" She asks as she pulls out, heading back to the motel.

"I forced her to respect me,"

"How does one do that?"

"Tell them either what they want to hear or they need to hear," She looks out the window of the back seat as the city rushes by, "That and I completed a form in half the time,"

"Well, if I see you again, tell me how it went," Marg says as she drops Jade off at the door to the motel and waves good bye.

As she enters through the door, her phone goes off, "Hello?"

"Yes, hello, this is Kim, when can you start?"

"Monday,"

"Sounds good. Be here on Monday at seven in the morning for your uniform and safty brefing,"

"Thank you so much, I will see you then," Jade smiles confidently as she enters her room, only to find a pice of mail under her door.

And the crash from the emotional high. She rips open the envelope from the doctor's office. You have GOT to be kidding me! $400? For him to put his stupid stethiscope up to my chest? I did all the work! She grabs her phone and calls them, grumbling the entire time, until an envelope falls out to send the money in, "This is the only easy part of paying, they send the fucking envelope for you, and you STILL have to pay for the fucking stamp," She throws the bill onto a small round table in the corner, "I'll deal with you later," She grumbles setting her alarm for five thirty in the morning.

"How much money do I have left?" She sits on the bed and counts out $1,500.

Pulling her laptop over she begins looking for apartments for less than three hundred a month.

"Yes, hello, I'm asking about your one bedroom apartment for rent on Spencer street,"

"Yes? It's a one bedroom with a balconey for two hundred a month everything to month lease,"

"Is it avaliable now?"

"Yes, it is ready to move in, are you wanting to look at it?"

"That would be great, when can I meet you?"

"Today at noon I am avaliable to be down there, will that work for you?"

"That will work perfectly,"

"Alright,"

Two hundred dollars a month, making nine dollars an hour at my new job, eight hours a day, five days a week. I'll make more than my rent in a week, AWSOME!

It's eleven now, and Spencer street is four blocks away. At the pace I'm going at lately, I should leave now.

Walking past her bag, her mother's letter floats to the ground off of the small table. 132 South main street. I'll look for Jake next week after work. With the whole reason she came here back in her mind, she closes the door and makes her way to her hopefuly new home.

"Are you the one I talked on the phone with?" An older man asks limp up to her as she sits on the front steps of the apartment building.

"That depends, are you the land lord?"

"Yes I am,"

"Then yes, I'm the one you talked to. My name is Jade, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for meeting me here. I appreciate it,"

"Not a problem," The man smiles and opens the glass door to the hallway, "Apartment one is one for rent," He opens the door to a spacious kitchen with enough room for a small dinning table. A smaller living room, which wasn't a problem for her. The bathroom had a bathtub and shower head. The bedroom was larger than she thought it would be. And the balcony has a beautiful view of! She swings the doors open to A giant tree! She was so extactic about the rest of the apartment she didn't care. It will be better for summer, keeps the sun out. Keeps the noise of the road out, and it's good for keeping the wind from howling through the window, and I get to hear birds sing in the morning!

"I'll take it," She turns to see the man watching her. She pulls out her wallet and hands him four one hundred dollar bills, "First months rent and security deposit,"

"Alright, let's sign the papers," She smiles brightly as he pulls them out of his back pocket.

After signing, she shakes his hand and thanks him again and again as they walk back outside and he hands her the key, "If you ever have any problems, don't be afraid to call me, I'm avalible at all hours, so if anyone gives you problems, you just let me know and I'll rough 'em up for you," He lifts his shaking fists to his face in demistration. She laughs and puts her hands on his.

"Thank you so much," He hands her his phone number and walks back in the direction he came from.

Now I can FINALLY leave the hotel!

"That will be two hundred and forty dollars,"

"Here you go, see 'ya!" She waves, picks up her bags and walks back to her new home.

Entering her new home she takes a big wiff, "Still has that new home smell," She laughs at herself as she begins to unpack once again, this time for good. This is so great! Work is less than a block away, there is a laundry mat here in the building, and work is a grochrie store! It can't get much better than this! She unrolls her sleeping bag, pulls out her laptop and begins making a list.

"I'll need dishes, silverware, a bed, toiletries, towels, cleaning supplies, some more cloths would be great," She smiles, "Things are FINALLY looking up Mom!" She says to the ceiling.


	6. New things, new thoughts

The next morning she goes to a dollar store and purchases the desired objects for her new home, including a small plastic dresser, tiny dinning room table made of metal. Once making it home and organizing everything she purchased. She sits with her laptop and types in the address she found for her father. 132 South Main street, "That's the next street over? Really?" She closes the lid and lays back onto her sleeping bag, "I'll go there next week on Saturday," An over whelming feelings floods her, "What do I even expect? Do I even care? Will this change me? Will he accept me? Deny me? What will happen if he does any of them?" Her mind whirls with the possibilities, "I guess I'll worry about it when it happens, no use tearing myself up about it now," She looks at her phone, "I can't believe it's already seven at night!" She shuts her trace phone and turns the light off, "Might as well get some sleep, I still need some more cloths, probably another busy day, and I need some groceries, I have to stop eating out, so that means I have to pick up some pots, pans and utencles for cooking,"

"You'll be used,"

"What? How?"

"Don't go,"

"Who are you?" A black figure stands in front of her in a the middle of chaos while everyone rushes around them.

"I'm," He vanishes as the boy from the pharmacy appears wearing a red and yellow shirt.

"It's okay, your safe now,"

"Where am I?" She begins to look around only to see darkness and hear maniacal laughter, chilling her to the core.

"What do you want?" She screams, trying in vain to cover her ears, but the laughter is in her head. Suddenly, a pale, male face bombards her vision. Green short hair sits messily atop his head, green eyes bore into her soul, and a wide, red rimed mouth laughs loudly, madly, evilly.

"Why are you doing this?" She tries to run, only to begin falling, until the black figure appears again, reaching out his hand.

"NO!" She springs forward, breathing heavily, sweat rolling off her body while fear and confusion flood her scenes. She looks around frantically to see her room, the sunlight filtering in through the branches of the tree outside her window, hears the birds chirping, feels the warmth of her sleeping bag, "Another dream," She takes a few deep, calming breaths before climbing out of the sleeping bag to wash up for the day.

Looking in the mirror after brushing her teeth, waiting for hair to settle after drying it with a towel, _Why do I keep having these dreams?_ She asks the mirror, looking at the tired, purple bags under eyes, her sunken cheeks, her tanned skin, her long blond hair that now reaches past her butt, "I look like a mess," She grabs her hair brush and begins the exhausting feat of brushing her hair out after a shower, "It doesn't matter, their just dreams, it's not like they ever mean anything," She laughs shortly at herself for even thinking they would mean anything, "Their just the way our subconscious sorts out memories and waking problems. That's all dreams are, a way to occupy the mind while we rejuvenate our bodies," She tells herself as she finishes brushing and lets her hair fall onto her back, "Time to pick out cloths, and some new shoes,"

"Where to, little lady?" Marg asks as she pulls up to the building while Jade waits for her outside.

"Walmart please," She gets into the back seat and looks out the window as the city rushes by.

"What's going on?" Marg asks into the back seat as Jade sighs at the window for the tenth time.

"Nothing, why?" She straightens up and looks at Marg through the rear view.

"Girl's don't sigh THAT many times at the senory for no reason, huny,"

"Oh, just..." She sighs again, not knowing how to word her problems. Not knowing why she would even consider telling the Taxi driver any way, why did this lady care about her any way? Why was she even still thinking about it? "Happy things are looking up for me," She decides to lie and plaster a fake smile on her face, waiting for Marg to catch the bait, only to see her raise her eye brow in skepticism.

"Right...Well, how about this, when your ready to talk, I'll be listen'," She drops her off at Walmart and drives off with out another word.

Picking out ten button up flanal shirts of different colors that are two sizes too big from the man's section, three pairs of black skinny jeans, three pairs of blue boot cut jeans, and two pairs of tan cargo pants, and a set of nonstick pots and pans and a set of cooking utenciles she takes her cart up to the check out, "That will be two hundred dollars and ninty nine cents,"

"Here,"

"Out of Two hundred and five," Receiving her change back, she grabs her bags and calls Marge.

Waiting outside, she realizes that the next day will be her first day of work, "I better get good sleep tonight," She looks up at the clouds lazily drifting by and lets her mind wander to memories of her and her mother together before the cancer. Before the bills, before the nightmare.

"Hay, space cadet," Jade lowers her head to see Marge waiting for her, "Are you going to get in or stair off into the cosmos's for an answer?" She asks as Jade gets in, "I promise you won't have the answer unless you ask it," Jade just throws her bags into the back seat and follows suit, "Back home I assume?"

"Yes, please,"

Once back home, she throws everything in the washer, then goes back to her apartment.

 _Tomorrow is my first day of work, I'll have to go to bed early to be there by seven in the morning, so i'll have to get up by five thirty to make a decent breakfast and mentally prepare myself, and if I'm not early, I'm late._

After finishing the laundry, she sets her alarm, and crawls into her sleeping bag.


	7. Routines

The night goes by quickly to the point it seems like she closes her eyes and the next second, her alarm goes off.

Yawning and stretching, she shuts it off, pulls herself from the sleeping bag, looks for something to eat until she realizes, she has no groceries, _That's right, I wanted to go today after work...I guess I'm going through the day without food until lunch. Not that big of a deal I guess. I have been spoiled, three meals a day, I need to cut back on my costs by eating at home._ She makes her way to the bathroom and looks at her self in the mirror. _I'll look for him on Saturday. It really doesn't matter what happens. I shouldn't it's not like it will change who I am..._ She leans closer to the mirror and looks into her own bright, green eyes _Will it?_ She bats her hand lightly at the mirror _What the hell am I becoming? Some kind of dreamer? It won't change me...He won't change me. He can't. I am who I am, no one will ever change that but me._ Having the internal battle won, she prepares herself for the day, then heads out.

"Good morning, Jade," Kim greets her in her office, "It's nice to see you early and enthusiastic to begin your work,"

"Happy and excited to be here, Ma'am,"

"Good, that's the kind of personality we need around here," Kim smiles, stands and hands Jade her uniform and shows her to the rest rooms to change and tells her she can keep her street cloths in her office until the end of her shift.

"Alright, here is the bakery, this is your mentor, Jessica," Jessica walks up with a bright smile and shakes Jade's hand happily, "She will show you the ropes and teach you everything you need to know. I'll be up in my office for most of the day if Jessica can't answer any questions,"

"Hello, as you know, my name is Jessica, I'm super excited to have you on board, Jade," She begins as Kim walks back up to her office.

"Thanks, excited to be here," _It's going to be a long day with her as my mentor, I think my cheeks will fall off at this rate._

Between working the oven, greeting guests, taking orders, answering the phone, packaging, cleaning, and learning the lay out of the store, Jade couldn't help but admit it was entertaining at the least.

"Alright Jade, you did wonderfully for your first day! You're learning quick, that's great! I'm excited for you to come back tomorrow where you can start to have hands on experience,"

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow," She waves good bye, goes up to grab her cloths and begins grochrie shopping for the week.

"That will be one hundred fifty dollars and eighty seven cents,"

"Here,"

"Paper or plastic?"

"Put as much as you can fit in two paper, the rest in plastic please,"

After receiving her two paper and six plastic bags, she begins the short, but exhausting journey back home.

The rest of the week passes quickly in much the same manor. Get up early, cook eggs, toast and sausage for breakfast, get ready, pack a small lunch, go to work, come home, cook dinner, do dishes, then back to bed.


	8. The story begins Father Jack

Saturday, she gets up late, not having to work, makes breakfast and gets ready for the day. Takes a shower, brushes her teeth, hair and puts some eye liner, shadow and lip gloss on, grabs her phone and writes the address on a small piece of paper, grabs her birth certificate and leaves, closing the door behind her.

 _132 South Main street, this is it...I guess._ She walks up the small cement steps of a skinny house set between two bars. The pail green building with two windows on the upper floor looking out toward the street. The door sounds heavy as she knocks on it and steps back. Her hair blowing in the wind, her bangs set to the side with three bobby pins. Her black skinny jeans, red and black checkered shirt hangs loosely on her with a sweater she brought from Wisconsin open and flapping as she waits, her heart racing in her chest, her feet cold, hands clammy and thoughts racing. _What will he look like? What will he be like? Will he be like Mom said or will he have changed? sixteen years is a long time to change someone, hopefully for the better. But then again, this world isn't rainbows and butterflies, it's filled with hate and evil, so maybe he got worse from what Mom said. What if that's the case? Should I run and see who answers the door and try again tomorrow? No, that's just stupid and a waste of both our times. If it turns out to be what Mom said he would be or worse, I'll just run for the door, or call marge...I'll call Marge, she can._

 _Who the hell want's?_ He thinks closing his laptop, grabs his coffee in one hand, his revolver in the other and makes his way to the door. His long blue pajama bottoms sliding slightly on the wooden floor while his white T-shirt swaying with each step.

Opening the door, keeping half his body behind the it as he peeks past it, the gun hidden. He see's a teenage girl about five foot five, blond hair. He smiles slightly, taking a long sip from his steaming cup, "Sorry little girl, I don't want your girl scout cookies,"

"Um...No, I'm actually here to...um," She looks at the ground, puts her hands behind her back and fidgets, "Are you Jack Nipral?"

"Yes,"

She takes a deep breath and blurts out "I'm your daughter,"

His face drops and eyes grow wide with shock, his hand slips from the coffee cup, and quickly, he kicks the door closed with a loud slam right in her face, "What the hell just happened?" He looks at the gun I'll keep this. He turns back and opens the door again, to see her walking away.

 _Well that went swimmingly..._ She hears the door opens again and turns around quickly.

"Prove it," He says hiding the gun behind his back once again.

"Um..." She digs into her back pocket, making him go on edge, causing him to cock the hammer, "Here, this is my birth certificate," She hands it to him as he uncocks the gun, he takes it with care, unfolds it and stairs in wonder.

"How did you get here?" He asks thudding his head and throwing the gun into the umbrella bin, hiding the sound of it falling into the bin.

"I mostly walked until I got to Grand Rapids, then I caught a plain to New Jersey,"

"Why are you here?"

"Looking for you,"

"Why are you looking for me?"

She puts on an innocent face, "Can't a daughter look for her long lost father?"

"Valid enough, are you hungry?" He steps to the side, allowing her in.

"No, but I would love a cup of coffee, if you don't mind,"

"Sure, no problem," He leads her a short way to a red couch, "Wait here," Pouring the coffee into a cup he calls back over his shoulder, "Would you care for creamer or sugar?"

"No, I'll take it black,"

Shortly he returns with the steaming coffee and hands it to her, then takes a seat in a chair next to her watching her look around the rather large room, "So, do you even remember my mother?"

He looks back down at the birth certificate, "No, I don't. It was a one night stand and I was probably drunk, and I'm not going to apologize for it, because with out it happening, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He takes another long swig of his coffee.

 _A some what normal response. A bit harsh, but at least he realizes that I'm here and he can't change that._ She thinks happy for the black coffee as he copies Jack.

"So, tell me about yourself," He puts one leg over the other and sits back in the chair and waits for her answer.

"Well, I came from Wisconsin, I'm top of my class back in school. I enjoy mathematics and psychology,"

"What are your hobbies?"

"Um...I don't really have any," She takes a long drink from the steaming cup, enjoying the way it feels going down her still soar throat, "What are your hobbies?" She asks suddenly, putting the cup down on a small, circular coffee table.

"Hm...Well, I enjoy tinkering," They grow silent as they study each other shortly.

"How old are you?" Jade asks Jack who switches his legs around.

"I'm thirty seven," They grow silent once again, "Do you have friends at school?"

"No, most of them are imbicalces who lack even a brain stem." She looks up to the ceiling and sighs, "Some times, I would just love to see the world burn," Suddenly, she hears laughter coming from Jack. Hard, manic laughter that shakes her to her core.

"I'd like that to," He chuckles wiping tears from his eyes.

 _Is this the crazy Mom was talking about? This feeling, I need to leave. I need to get away from him. This isn't right_. She hides her fear behind the same smile Jessica uses at work, "Wow, look at the time, I'm going to be late for work, can I use your phone?"

"Ya, sure. I'll go get it for you, stay here and enjoy your coffee," He gets up and walks back into the kitchen.

Reaching under the sink, he grabs a windex bottle and sprays it on the phone. _This should be fun_. He wipes the remaining liquid off on his pants, _I knew this cloraphome would come in handy_. He smiles walking back into the living room, seeing her already standing, "Here you go, wouldn't want you to be late for work,"

"Thanks," She begins to dile the taxi number then puts the cordless phone up to her ear. _I can't wait to get my cell phone turned back on._

"Hello, taxi service," She takes an inhale, then becomes light headed. Fatigue hits her like a wall as she feels herself fall to the hard floor.

"Are you alright?" He takes the phone away and hangs up, placing it on the coffee table, watching her eyes close as she falls uncontentious.


	9. Green

_Darkness. Floating? Where am I? Why can't I see anything? Why can't I feel anything? Am I dead?_ She ponders these thoughts as she tries to figure out what is going on. _The last thing I remember was trying to use the phone to call Marge and get away from Jack. Why did I pass out? DID HE SPIKE MY DRINK?_! She tries calming herself down _Who's pulling my hair?_ She feels slight tugging on her hair, accompanied by the sound of scissors. _Why is my hair wet?_ Slowly she forces her eyes to open, not wanting to leave the peaceful darkness that envelopes her, some how knowing terror awaits her on the other side of her eyelids.

Upon opening her eyes, she see's her reflection. _No scratches, no bleeding..WHAT THE FUCK?! MY HAIR IS GREEN?! I have GREEN hair?! WHY do I have green hair?_ As she internally screams, she feels more tugging and hears quiet, inaudible mumbling from behind her, out of sight of her reflection. She tries getting up, wanting to get away from whoever is behind her, only to discover her ankles and wrists are held down by leather straps to the chair.

"Now now, that wouldn't be wise. I have a rather rusty pair of scissors here and I wouldn't want to take off more than you bargained for," He ends with laughter to his own sick joke.

"A little late," She mumbles trying to remind herself her hair is the least of her concerns right now. She looks around the small white room for an exit.

"What are you looking for?" A man with a sick twist on the classic sadistic clown look asks stepping out from behind her.

"A way out," She mumbles as her eyes search around her as well as through the mirror. As she looks in the mirror, she see's the clown's face go from blank to anger quickly. He reaches out quickly and puts the scissors up to her neck. The cold pierces her skin as her heart beat sky rockets.

"You wouldn't want me to slip up with your hair, would you?" He asks into her reflection.

"No," She whispers, seeing that she misjudged her situation greatly.

"What? I didn't hear you," He pushes the cold scissors harder against her throat, "I asked you a question," He hisses in her ear as she begins to shake in fear.

"No," She says louder closing her eyes trying not to let him see her cry.

"No what?" He yells grabbing her now short, green hair and pulling it along with her head.

"No, I don't want you to slip up with my hair," She yells loosing the battle as tears roll down her face.

"Good girl," He takes his hand and scissors away from her and takes a few steps back, as if admiring his work. Nodding his head he steps to the side and grabs a small box.

"Why are you doing this?" She asks getting the courage quickly as her tears dry.

"Oh, I love that question!" He smiles bending so his head is next to hers in the mirror, "But first hold still so I can do your make up," He turns and starts rummaging through the box. Quickly he turns back and stands in front of her, then hits her nose with a large powder puff making her cough as the light powder fills the air quickly, "Now to answer your question, you are going to pull off the biggest bank robbery this town has ever seen, for me!" He begins laughing loudly as he grabs her chin and applies bright red lipstick.

"What makes you think I'll do that for you?" She asks once he is done with the lipstick.

"If you don't I'll kill your family,"

It's her turn to laugh this time, "Sorry, cancer beat you to it," The man stops laughing to look at her. An almost empathetic expression comes to his face, only to be quickly covered by the crazed laughing face once again.

"That's alright, I'll just kill you then. But then again, it's not like you have much of a choice in the matter,"

Not wanting to know any more, she begins again looking for away out, trying her best not to move her head.

"Still looking for an escape?" He asks her standing in front of her, deeming her make over complete, "Can't have that," Quickly he is holding her right eye lids open with his thumb and pointer finger. She quickly closes her left as she hears tape being torn. He tapes her eye open, and with slight struggle repeats with the left, "There, no we can get to the next step," He plunges his hand into his green vest and pulls out a gold pocket watch. He dangels it in front of her face by a long chain.

"You must be joking," She frowns at the watch then up at him.

"Oh no, I'm not. Now," he begins swinging the watch back and forth, "Look at the time,"

Out of habit she glances at the watch as he swings it left to right. Quickly, she finds herself unable to look away, "Listen to the sound of my voice and only my voice. Do not look away from the watch. You are getting sleepy, your body is heavy, so heavy. You are so tired. When I touch your shoulder you are going to fall asleep, but you will still listen to my voice." He touches her lightly on the shoulder. Even though her eyes are held open against her will, she begins to fall into a deep sleep.


	10. What is going on?

Feeling like she woke from a long nap, she opens her eyes, expecting to see the white ceiling of her apartment. Instead she is standing in the middle of the remains of a building. She looks around frantically, not knowing what is going on. She hears people sobbing, screaming. The smell of various things burning assaults her nose. She looks at her hands to see a large red button attached to a small silver handle. She again looks around her, remembering she had seen this scene before in her dreams. She looks back down at the button to see her arm bleeding from a small cut. _I'm not dreaming, this cut hurts._ Slowly she puts the pieces together in her mind. _I did this._ Horror begins to fill her very soul as she throws the button to to the ground and looks around her again to see dead bodies strewn every where. _Oh my God!_ She falls to her knees, her body going numb with shock. She puts her hands in her hair, noticing how short it is and she begins to pull at it roughly.

Seemingly out of no where, a black figure falls from the now visible sky where there once was a ceiling. The figure looks around at the damage before turning toward her. His eyes wide with terror. Taking quick, deliberate steps he grabs her by the hair and lifts her up. The pain snaps her out of her shock and she begins to struggle.

"Why?!" The only word that comes from the man's mouth.

"I...I," Why does my voice sound like a man's? Before she can finish, he punches her in the right cheek, sending her flying into a pile of rubble.

Pain fills every cell in her body as she tries to escape, but the cloaked man grabs her by the hair again and punches her in the stomach, causing her lungs to push every bit of air she has out. Spit follows suit right before her teeth clash together, causing her to bit her tongue, drawing blood that dribbles out of her mouth. She begins coughing as her lungs spasm.

Her chest burns as he drops her to the ground watching her struggle to gasp for breath through the coughing. She lands on her hands and knees, and as quickly as she can she tries in vain to crawl away, only to have him kick her in the ribs, causing her to scream and be thrown into another rubble pile.

She hits her head against a large cement fragment, causing her to black out. Her body falls limp as her eyes flutter shut.


	11. Questions

A shiver runs through her as she begins to come to. _It's so cold. Where am I? What's going on? Ugh. My head is killing me._ She reaches up a hand to rub the back of her head, feeling a thin structure behind her. She opens her eyes to piercing white light from above. White walls surround her. She squints her eyes shut again, placing both hands over them, rubbing them harshly. _What the hell is going on? Am I in a padded cell?_ She smakes her lips softly _God I'm thirsty._ She tries to swallow, only to find her throat too dry.

Slowly opening her eyes again, keeping her left hand above her eyes to shield from the blinding light, she see's a small white table with a large glass of water and two oatmeal raisen cookies resting on it. Quickly she stands, only to become dizzy and plop ungracefully back into the chair, her head spinning. _Okay, slowly then._ She tries again, this time making it to the table.

Leaning on the small structure with a circular base, she gulps the water down quickly, wiping her mouth the back of her hand. Then eating the cookies quickly as her stomach growls loudly. After devouring every crumb she could find, she makes her way to a wall. _It's not padded, it feels like cement...Where am I?_ She walks around the room, her right hand gliding against the slightly bumpy wall, until she comes to a door. _No door nob?_ She tries to fit her fingers between a tiny crack between the door and the doorway. _What am I doing? I can't open this, why am I even trying?_ She makes her way back to the chair and sits back down. _Am I going to spend the rest of my life here?_ She looks up at the lights to see a small camera in the back left of the corner. A small ray of hope jumps in her heart. She walks over to the camera and stands directly in it's sights.

"Hay!" She yells at it, "What's going on? You need a reason to keep me in prison by law. What's the reason?"

As if on que, the white door at the other end of the room begins to open. Quickly, she turns around, seeing the black figure from before. Her heart beat and breathing sky rockets. Her feet and hands become cold and clammy. Her mind goes blank as she backs away.

"Take a seat," He grumbles gruffly, standing behind the small table. She simply shakes her head slowly, "You don't need to be afraid, I won't hurt you if you don't give me a reason,"

"How do I..." She takes a breath, "I know you're telling the truth?" She stutters out, slowly creeping toward the chair, feeling it's the only thing protecting her.

"You don't,"

"Why am I hear?"

"I'll be asking the questions,"

"Then we'll be here a while, because I want answers to,"

The man falls silent as if waiting for something. After what seemed like hours to her, but only two minutes to him, "Did you enjoy the cookies?"

"Yes," She whispers wishing she could have more as her stomach growls.

"Do you want more?"

"Yes," The man turns his back to her as the door opens and a small tray of cookies appears in the small crack.

"Do you want something to drink?" She smakes her lips again, thirst again preventing her from swallowing. She nods her head and again, a tray appears through a small crack in the door, this time with another glass of water, "I'm not going to hurt you,"

"I don't trust you at all," Against her better judgment, she begin inching forward, staying close to the ground like an animal, "You hurt me for no reason before,"

"You blew up a building, killing nine people, injuring twelve others,"

"I didn't do that," She stops in her tracks upon the information.

"Then who did?"

"I don't know,"

"Why were you holding the button?"

"I don't know,"

"What do you know?"

"That I'm trapped here, and I'm afraid of you,"

"What is your name?" He holds out the glass of water to her. Slowly, she grabs it, then retreats back behind the chair, gulping it down quickly.

"Jade Clines,"

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen,"

"Have you always lived in Gothem?"

"No,"

"Where else have you lived?"

"In a small town in Wisconsin called Clintonville,"

"How long have you lived in Gothem?"

"Less than a month,"

"What brought you here?"

"I was looking for my father."

"Was? Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yes,"

"Is your mother with you?"

"No,"

"Why not?"

"She's dead,"

"What did she die from?"

"Cancer,"

"How long have you known your father?"

"Less than a day,"

"Do you know what day it is?"

"Yah, it's Saterday, November thirtieth,"

"You've missed three days,"

"What?" She yells fresh fear gripping her heart as she grips the back of the chair, her knuckles turning white, "Then, it's Tuesday...My job! Oh my God! How am I going to pay rent if I don't have a job?" Tears begin pricking her eyes as she puts her left hand to her head, again noticing her hair is so short, "My hair!" Tears begin racing down her face as she crumples into a ball on the floor, her right hand still holding the back.

"Where do you work?"

"I work at the grochrie store here in town in the bakery,"

"How long have you worked there?"

"Five days," She sniffles, trying and failing to regain her composure.

"What is your father's name?"

"Jack Niprel,"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

She looks up at him through a large gap in the chair right above the seat, "I remember..." She tries thinking back as a foggy memory makes itself known slowly, "I remember my hair getting cut by a creepy clown," Her left hand trails to her throat, feeling the slice of cold from the scissor's he held to her throat, "He threatened me that if I didn't do what he wanted, he would kill me," She begins crying anew, "He told me that I would do the biggest bank robbery this town has ever seen for him," She begins sobbing again, realizing she did just that, "I don't understand, why did this happen?"

"I'm not sure, but who you saw was more than likely Joker," Batman walks closer to her after putting the tray of cookies on the table, "He is a very dangerous man,"

She says nothing as he squats down to her level, a black mask concealing the majority of his face. A black cape fluttering loudly behind him, "You..." Her eyes grow wide with new fear, "You're death!" She screams loudly shoving the chair in his general direction that he dodges easily, "Your going to kill me!" She screams running to the left corner under the camera, "I'm not ready to die! I have so much left to do! I still have to spread my mother's ashes!"

"You need to calm down," He yells over her screams of terror, "I'm not going to kill you," He slowly advances toward her, "I just need to know if your a threat to this city,"

"No, I'm not. All I want to do is work at the bakery, making money so I can pay my bills. That's it," She wails cowering more into the corner with each step he takes.

"I'm going to let you go, but I need you to keep this on your person at all times," he hands her a small red flashing light, "I'm going to have you call your father and arrange for him to pick you up so you can put this whole situation behind you and live peacefully,"

"What is it?" She asks wiping the tears off her cheeks with the back of the sleeve to a shirt that doesn't belong to her.

"It's a tracker. If your ever in danger, just press the button and I'll come to help you if anything like this happens again," He holds his hand out to her, "Do you understand what I am telling you?" She nods her head as she slowly reaches out to take his hand.

Carefully he helps her up, lifts the chair to it's normal position and gently pushes her shoulders down for her to sit in it, "I'm going to grab a phone for you to use, I'll be right back," Again she nods, keeping her hands to her chest, trying in vain to calm her racing heart.

"Hello?" Her father's voice comes over the phone after she diels the number the man gave her.

"Hello, Jack?"

"Yes?"

"It's Jade,"

"Where have you been? Are you alright?"

"I think so, can you come pick me up at the post office?"

"Yes, I'll be there as soon as I can. Are you in any danger?" She looks up to the man as if searching for the answer in his eyes. He shakes his head no.

"No, I'm alright. I'll meet you there in ten minutes,"

"Alright," She hangs up the phone and hands it back to the man.

Thoughts race frantically through her head as he explains he needs to blind fold her to get her to the car.

As he guides her from behind, holding her shoulders gently, her breathing escalates rapidly, keeping her hands to her chest, "Watch your head," he places his hand on her head as he pushes her into the car lightly.

Once in, she hears a loud engine start up and the vibrations of the car as the tires squeal and echo, "Remember what I told you, if you ever feel like your in danger in the same way, push the button," She nods her head sitting stiff in the vehicle, "As for your job, I'll contact your boss and explain what happened, you're not loosing your job, so don't worry about that," She takes a small sigh of relief as the car gently rolls to a stop, "You can take the blind fold off," He instructs not getting out of the car or looking back, "Get out of the car and wait for your father to come. I hope I don't have to see you again in these circumstances,"

"Me either,"

"Put the coat on that's next to you, don't worry about giving it back, it's a gift,"

"Okay,"

"Be safe out there,"

"Yah, you to," She get's out of the car and ties the large trench coat straps in a knot as she waits for Jack to come.

She doesn't have to wait long for a red Toyota Corolla rolls up and Jack quickly gets out of the car.

"Are you alright?" He asks reaching out toward her. She shrinks away quickly and begins to shake, "Are you hurt?" Worry marks his face.

"I...I'm fine," She takes a deep breath to try to calm herself, "Ca...Can I stay with you for the day? I...I, don't want to be alone," She admits as her father's face relaxes to slight concern.

"Of coarse you can," He opens the door for her to get in, "Come on, get in," he closes the door to the back seat and sits in the driver's side. After ear deafening silence ensues between them for two miles, he looks in the rearview at her, "What happened to your hair?"

"Some crazy clown died it, then cut it off," She takes a shuttering breath, trying to hold back the tears.

"Here we are, how about I make you some tea to calm your nerves?" He asks helping her out of the car gently.

"That would be nice," Opening the door, he guides her to the couch, grabs a blanket and places it around her.

"You wait here, and I'll go make that," She nods her head and lays down, clutching the blanket around her chest for dear life.

Jack quickly brings a steaming cup of tea out to her along with a small jar of huny and a shaker of sugar, "here you go, be careful it's hot," He sets it down on the coffee table and takes a seat in the chair, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but where have you been for the past three days?"

"I don't know," She sits up and adds huny to the tea and begins stiring with a small spoon already in the cup.

"You look tired, I have a spare room here if you'd like to stay the night,"

"Yes, please," She begins drinking the hot tea, not caring as it burns her mouth and throat as she chugs the contents quickly.

"I'll take that for you, wait here and I'll get the room ready," She nods her head as she hands him the still hot cup.

A few minutes pass and Jack returns, "Alright, all ready for you," She stands slowly, still clutching the blanket like a life line.

Walking in, she see's a small bed in a tiny room, "I know it's not much, but it should do for the night," She nods her head and walks toward the bed, "I'll be up late if you need anything,"

"Alright, thanks," She lays down after he closes the door and quickly falls asleep. Exhaustion quickly taking hold after the turn of events.


	12. In the after math

She wakes to the sound of honking horns and blaring sirens. She turns her body and sits up to look out a small window looking out at a brick wall of the adjacent building. She rubs her yes gently, seeing a purple dress coat sleeve. Memories from the previous day rush back into her head like a flood. She turns on her stomach and sobs into the thin pillow. _What am I going to do? I don't know what to do? Do I just keep living like nothing happened? How do I move on after I killed people?_ She begins sobbing harder, the rack her body as guilt floods her contentiousness.

"Jade?" Her father's voice sounds from behind a thin wooden door, "Jade, are you alright?" he begins knocking until the door nob begins to turn, "I'm coming in,"

Upon entering the room, he sees her curled into the fetal position on her knees, her hands tucked to her chest as she sobs into the pillow, "Jade, what's wrong?" He walks toward her, concern dripping with each word, "Jade, I can't do anything if you don't tell me what's wrong," He sits on the bed and puts a hand on her back.

"I.." She sniffles and turns her head to look at him with her left eye, "I killed people," She begins sobbing again, her chest heaving as they rack through her body until she begins coughing, "How do I move on after that? I don't remember anything, just waking up in the after math. The screams!" She moves her arms up to her head and begins pulling at her hair, "The screams Dad, they won't go away! They're haunting me!" She screams miserably.

"Jade, you need to calm down. You're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up,"

"I don't care," she pushes his hands away as he tries to pry her hands from her hair, "I want to die. I don't deserve to live," The tears stop as she says this. All emotion drained from her being as her hands fall limp at the sides of her head, "What do I do?"

"You move on," He answers simply taking his hands away from her and placing them in his lap, "You move on with your own life,"

"How?"

"You forget,"

"But they won't let me,"

"Jade," Jack sighs heavily, "I don't have all the answers, but I do have breakfast if your hungry," He tries lightening the mood.

"I'm not hungry. I actually should get going. I need to go to work and my uniform is back at home," She stands from the bed, the suit rubbing against itself loudly, "I appreciate your help, really," She forces a faint smile as she turns to him walking slowly through the doorway.

"I'll give you a ride home. You shouldn't be walking around looking like... that,"

"Thanks,"

"I'll get the keys,"

A silent car ride once again as he drives the one block to her small apartment complex. She gets out of the car slowly, clutching the trench coat the masked man gave her around herself, "Thanks for the ride. I have your number, so when I get the money I'll turn my phone back on and give you a call if that's alright with you,"

"That's fine, be safe. Don't hesitate to come over if you ever need anything,"

"Thanks," With the final word being spoken, she opens the door and is gone from sight.

 _Perfect_ A large smile adorns Jack's face as he drives away.


	13. Pains

Like a robot, she walks into her apartment. No emotion lightens her eyes, no thoughts to entertain her mind. She makes her way to the bathroom to take a shower, only to cross the mirror. It stops her in her tracks. She turns toward it, forgetting about her shower. She takes in her swollen cheek that begins to bruise. Her tear streaked face. Her puffy eyes that are rimmed with red. Worst of all, her hair. Her most prized possession about her physical appearance. Her self confidence to the outside world is ruined, "I hate you," She glares into her reflection, now knowing what it felt like to everyone she had ever called stupid, worthless or a waste of space, "I hate you so much," She takes a step closer, the glare only deepening as she feels more loathing than she had ever felt in her entire life, "You should just die!" With out a second thought, or self restraint, she slams her fist against the mirror, effectively braking it into hundreds of pieces, most falling into the sink, the rest falling to the floor around her feet. Some embedding themselves into her right hand.

Pulling her hand back, she looks at it with a blank expression, feeling nothing, thinking nothing as her blood drips gently to the floor, making the sound her eyes can not.

Finally, like a thick fog lifting, she blinks, realizing that her hand hurt, that what she is doing is stupid, _What am I doing? Doing this isn't going to change anything. Who knew,_ She steps into the shower and turns it on, letting the freezing cold water wash over her, hopping to get some sense back into herself as it slowly heats up, _I'd be a self loathing type to go off the deep end._ After washing her body and getting the glass from her hand, she steps out, and gets ready for work. _I'm already two hours late. Hopefully they'll understand. He told me I wouldn't loose my job, can I trust him? Can I trust any one?_ She bandages her hand and heads out the door quickly while adjusting her uniform.

Approaching Kim's office door, her heart races with fear. _You're fired. You're fired!_ She could just hear it as she knocks on the door.

"Come in," Jade slowly opens the door and walks in, head down, hands clasped together.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, I promise it will never happen again," She bows her head deeper and closes her eyes tightly.

She hears the small roll away desk chair move back. _You're fired. You're fired!_

"Jade!" She feels hands come down gently on her shoulders, "Jade, how are you doing? Are you alright?" Kim asks desperately.

Jade is taken by surprise, this being the last greeting she had in mind. After the initial shock, she takes a deep breath and forces the biggest smile to her face, looking more like a grimace of pain than a smile, "I'm as good as I can be given the circumstances," She responds, being honest.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Kim asks taking her hands off Jade's shoulders, getting down to business.

"Yes, can I have a hat to hide this?" She points to her hair making Kim gasp in horror.

"Why on earth did you do that, dear?"

"I didn't."

"What?" Kim's face falls completely and turns slightly white in the face, "Then who did?" Fear laced in the question.

"I guess some man named Joker," She looses all emotion once again, forcing herself not to remember.

"THE Joker?" Kim takes two steps back away from Jade, fear creeping into her entire being.

"I guess," She shrugs her shoulders, not understanding what makes him THE joker.

"What else did he do?" Curiosity mixes in, making an odd feeling tingle through her body as her heart rate excolates.

Jade's heart on the other hand feels like it's going to stop as it drops to her feet, her face going pail as she puts a hand up to her neck, again feeling the icey chill of the scissors he held up to her, "I don't want to talk about it," She swallows loudly, trying her hardest to keep her mind in the present, "Can I just get my hat and do what I'm paid for?"

"Oh," Kim flusters slightly, "Sure, dear," She spins around and grabs her a black hat off a tall shelf, "Sorry," She puts the hat on Jade's head, "It must have been very traumatic for you," Kim puts a cool hand to Jade's swollen cheek lightly, "If you ever need to talk or just some one to cry on, don't be afraid to come to me," She smiles, trying to encourage Jade to do the same, only to be greeted with the same dead eyed look as before.

"Yah, thanks, I'll keep that in mind," With that being said, she turns and heads back down stairs, just wanting to get the day over with so she can go home and get some much needed sleep and food.

"Welcome back, Jade!" Jessica announces in her normal overly cheery way, a large smile lighting up the room.

"Hi, Jessica," She forces another grimace to her face slowly.

"Where in the world were you yesterday?"

"I don't want to talk about it," She says, quickly batting the question away harshly.

"Oh, that's alright,"Unfazed by the harshness of Jade's retort, "It's good to have you back," Jessica simply goes back to packaging.

The day drags on as if she were in quick sand, wearing led shoes. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get a handle on things as her mind is hiding in darkness, not wanting to come out for fear of feeling.

Each minute felt like eight hours, as if even time mocks her.

"Jade," Jessica's voice sounds softly through the darkness, "Jade!"

"Huh?" She looks to the left to see her face so close, "Sorry, what is it?"

"Jade, the oven's going off," Jessica points to the large, turning contraption as she see's Jade's face not change at all.

"Oh, thanks," She slowly walks to it, opens the door and picks up a pan, only to drop it immidatly, "Son of a..." She stops herself, knowing there are customers that can hear her outside the bakery.

"Jade! Are you alright?" Jessica comes rushing up to her, takes her hand and looks at the large bubble forming quickly on her whole hand, "Jade, you need to ware a mit if your going to pick up a tray that is six hundred degree's," She leads her over to the sink and turns cold water on and puts Jade's injury under the running water while she takes care of the cookies.

 _What the hell is wrong with me today?_ She puts her other hand up to her head fixing her hat slightly, _Am I stupid? Who tires to pick up a hot tray from the oven?_ She takes a deep breath turning her hand to get another place on her hand that still hurt, _Pull it together, Jade, you need this job. You can't afford to lose it. GET IT TOGETHER!_ She yells at herself internally, while her face stays blank.

"Jade, are you alright?" Jessica comes back, pulls her hand out from the stream of water, "I think you should go up to Kim, she has the first aid kit up there,"

"No, I'll be fine,"

"No, Jade, this is not negotiable,"

With having no other argument to defend herself, she pulls her hand away roughly and makes her way up stairs, cradling her hand.

After knocking on the door three times, "Come in," Jade opens the door, and like a disciplined child, walks in slowly with her head down, "Oh, hello, Jade. How are you holding up?" Not saying a word she holds her hand out to Kim who gasps, quickly gets up and grabs the burn kit, "Oh my goodness, what in the world happened?"

"I wasn't paying attention," She admits softly.

"Well, we are all guilty of that from now and then, and in your case, I can't exactly blame you at all," Softly Kim opens a packet and spreads Aloe gel on her hand, "This should help with pain," Kim softly smears the gel over her hand with a Q-tip, then turns it over lightly to make sure nothing is on the top, "Jade, I think you should take a few days off," Kim puts a hand on Jade's shoulder and looks into her once bright green eyes, "I can only imagine what you are going through, and I think you should be at home, not only recovering physically, but mentally as well. I can tell you're not you today, and I don't blame you." She walks around her desk and pulls Jade into a tight hug, "If you need to talk, you just let me know, and I will listen without judgment," Suddenly, Jade can't hold it in any longer and breaks down, sobs heaving through her body like that morning. Softy, Kim sooths her back, trying to comfort the fragile girl braking apart in her arms.

"I didn't mean to do it!" She sobs into Kim's shoulder, "I didn't want to do it!"

"Do what dear?"

"I.." She hiccups harshly, "I killed people,"

Kim is taken a back, not hearing the whole story from the man on the phone the other day, just telling her Jade had been through a very traumatic experience and that was why she wasn't here yesterday, "Tell me what happened," Jade tells her all that she remembered about the Joker experience as Kim's heart races at her bone chilling tale.

"Jade, you can take off as much time as you need. Think of this as a medical leave, so the company will pay you while you're away," Jade begins to sob harder,this time in a strange mixture of pain, greife and relief.

"Thank you,"


	14. A shot at normal

Hey, guys. Sorry it's been a while. Had to get some things figured and straightened out. Have some shifts going on with the energies, but I think I'm on the right track after seeing a Reiki master, so hopefully I'll be uploading more often. Hope you enjoy! 3

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After walking back home with a tiny light of hope flickering in the vast darkness of her mind that things might get better, she begins cleaning her house, trying to take her mind off things. She opens all the windows, despite the forty eight degree weather, dusts, sweeps, washes and scrubs everything she can think of. The more she cleans, the more her heart feels slightly lighter.

 _I don't remember rolling up my sleeping bag_ , She thinks as she goes over to the object in question and unrolls it easily, not thinking much more of it, _I also don't remember having any pencils_ , She picks up a purple maniacal pencil from off the window sill. She twirls it in her hand, racking her brain as to where it could have come from. _I have no idea where I could have got this_. "Well, free pencil I guess,"

That out of the way, she takes her sleeping bag to the washer for a well needed bath. As the wash goes, she starts the routine she followed with the kitchen and bathroom.

Satisfied with her hard work, she changes over the laundry to the dryer and makes herself some chicken Alfredo for dinner.

Once done eating her delicious meal, she gets her sleeping bag, and goes to bed as it's still warm from the dryer and falls asleep quickly.

"It's not over," The man in the dark mask says, as his face appears from darkness.

"What do you mean?"

"It's not over," Again and again he repeats the phrase, making her heart race in fear.

"What's not over?" She shouts at him.

"You're not safe, you need to leave, they'll come for you,"

"Who? Who's going to come to me? You're not making sense, you never do!" She yells angrily.

"You're being used," As he says this, he spreads his arms, his cape swiping over her as cold pieces her skin. She sits up straight with a gasp, heart racing, breaths coming in ragged gasps and mind whirling. She looks around quickly, to see she's outside of her sleeping bag, across the room in front of her window

 _What in the hell_? Slowly, she stands up, chills rushing up and down her body as the wind from her open window. _I forgot to close the windows yesterday._ Quickly, she rushes around her small apartment and closes them, then making her way back to her now cold sleeping bag. _I don't want to turn the heat on yet, it's not below thirty at night, it's still in the forty's._ She tells herself as she shiver's, curled into a small ball into the bag.

Slowly, after a while, she begins to fall asleep.

Morning comes faster than she thought possible as she wakes to the sound of a rather loud squirl outside her window. She stairs at it, angry it woke her up. His fluffy tail twitches up each time he makes an annoying squeaking sound, as if in a heated argument with some other creature. _Stupid squirl_. She makes her way out of her 'bed' and cracks her back loudly, then goes to her closet and grabbing a sweater. She shivers each time her feet touch the hard wood floor as she then goes to the dresser and pulls out a pair of jeans and socks, puts them on over her small pajama shorts and bare feet. She quickly warms up as she walks to the kitchen to make oatmeal for breakfast.

 _I really wish that man would stay out of my head._ She thinks as she eats the warm breakfast that helps warm her quickly _. I mean, really. I meet him once, and he tried to kill me!_ She washes her bowl out I guess not, _I suppose he rescued me...After he beat the hell out of me_. She goes to the bathroom and looks to the mirror, only to see nothing. That's right, I need a new mirror. She looks down at both her hands, injured. _At least the right one is on the top I guess_. She shrugs her shoulders as she goes back into her bedroom and puts on a bra and T-shirt under the sweater, grabs her wallet and walks to the dollar store.

"Welcome back Jade," The man at the register greets. He looks up from a book, "Oh my God, what happened to your face?" He gasps in horror slamming the book down on the counter.

"Um...I got punched," She walks by quickly not wanting to say any more.

"By who?" He calls after her, clearly not letting the topic go.

"By a man," She picks up a jell ice pack and a new mirror along with pajama pants and a small space heater, only to put the heater back and take a long sleeved night dress in it's place.

"Who's the man? I'll kick his ass for you," He glares up at the ceiling.

"That won't be needed, I kind of needed it myself," She smiles best she can with her cheek swollen.

"Well, if you say so," He begins ringing up the items, "I think you should get some pain killers for that to,"

"No, I'm good," After bagging the items, she makes her way back home.

After hanging the new mirror and putting the ice pack in the freezer, she takes a good look at her cheek, _Wow, he sure did a number on me_. She pokes it a few times, wincing each time as the tender skin is irritated, _I don't think he fractured or broke anything at least._

That being established, she walks into the dinning room area, _well, here I am..._ She walks around the room slowly, _God, I'm so board!_ She huffs irritated at not finding any thing to do. _I guess I could organize my closet by color..._ This in mind, she goes to the sliding closet door made of what looks like large, wooden shutters.

It takes her about three minutes to organize the ten tops she owns. Closing the door once finished, she looks at her phone to see the amount of time, only to groan. _I guess I could get my phone activated, at least it will get me out of the house for an hour, then maybe I can buy some games or something to occupy my time._ She grabs her wallet, then stops to look at her self in the mirror. _I need to cover that up_ , She thinks smoothing her hair over her head. She runs over to her dresser and pulls out the hat her mother made her and puts it on. _Hm, actually looks kind of good with green hair. Matches the eyes at least._ She smiles at the green feline eyes on her forehead. After a bit more scrutiny, she nods her head and heads out, shoving her phone into the back pocket of her jeans.

Walking down the streets of Gothem, the wind rushing by her and kicking up colorful leaves as she passes ally ways.

 _I need to get a hobby._ She thinks as she waits or the stop light to change for her to cross. _Maybe I could go to the library. Reading always takes my mind off things._ She crosses the road and goes toward the phone shop. _I hope I have enough money to pay for the activation fee...I should, unless that freek stole everything I have...Wait, I bought things ealier. I think I'll be fine in that aspect._

"Hello, welcome to the cell shop, how can I help you?" A young woman a short brown counter asks with a large, plastered on smile that reminds her of Jessica.

"Hi, I'd like to activate my phone," She walks up to the counter and hands the woman her phone. In return the woman gives her a small quizzical look at her face and hat, only to quickly look away.

"Sure, I'll get that ready for you in a jiffy," She plasters the smile back on her face, then turns around to look at the computer.

After about eight minutes of waiting, the woman turns back, "That will be sixty dollars and thirty eight cents,"

Jade digs in her wallet and pulls out a hundred. After getting the change back, she gets her phone back, "If you need anything else, feel free to call our twenty four seven hot line," She waves Jade off out the door.

 _I really wonder how people's faces don't cramp after a while_. As she is lost in her thoughts, she is suddenly shoved to the side by the shoulder, snapping her back to reality immediately.

"So sorry," A black haired, tall young woman says with what sounded like a mock apology to Jade who simply nods and continues walking. The woman grabs her arm and asks,"Have you seen a little boy with black hair? His name is Gabrial,"


	15. Sleep walking, or more?

"Hurry, she'll wake up soon," A man's voice whispers harshly, "Just put her down! Hurry up, get out,"

Suddenly she is dropped to the ground with out care. Her body jolts and her eyes fly open. Quickly she looks around. _How the hell did I get back home? Who was talking?_ She stands as fast as she can, pain and cramps make her legs spasm. _What the hell is going on? Was I robbed?_ She hobbles to each of the rooms in her apartment to see everything the way she left it. Then she turns her attention toward herself. _What the hell, my jeans are ripped to shreds. My sweater!_ Her hands fly to her head. _Thank God, my hats fine,_ She pulls off her mother's hat and strokes it softly, feeling the yarn catch at her chapped hands. _Should I push the button?_ She asks as she digs around in her pocket, only to find another pencil. _Maybe that's what they were after..._ She goes to her bed after looking out at the night sky. Am I going insane? She asks herself as she lays in her sleeping bag.

Pains rack her body, I feel like I ran a marathon. She stretches herself out as far as she can. She yawns loudly and rubs her eyes, "What the hell happened to me?" She asks the ceiling, not having the answers herself.

As she racks her brain to try and remember, she falls into a restless sleep.

"You need to run," The black masked mans warns harshly.

"Isn't this getting old?" She asks him, tired of his false warnings, "When ever you decide to show up, I never feel rested," She complains to him broadly.

"You need to leave. Don't go back to your father's," The man steps closer to her face, making her feel uncomfortable.

"No, you need to leave. Don't get up in my face," She tries to push him away, only to fall into him.

Darkness and unyielding gravity meet her. Her body feels so heavy, it's hard to breath, "You need to leave!" He booms making the darkness vibrate, "You need to run!" He begins yelling at the top of his lungs.

Through the yelling she hears a woman whisper in her ear, "Amy,"

She jolts awake, her body jumping in terror. Sweat pours off of her as chills rush over her like waves. Fear flares up in her as she is met with darkenss.

Against her better judgment, "Hello?" She calls out, only to be met with the sound of the neighbors heater making her jump. She gets up as her eyes slowly adjust, only to crumple to the floor. She looks down as a stabbing pain makes it's presence known, "I'm bleeding?" She touches the small wound on the inside of her calf of her right leg, "I'm outside my bed again," She looks around the room, "I know I didn't open the windows," Fear begins to fill her body anew. Quickly, she dashes for her bed, grabs her phone and diels his number.

"Hello?" A groggy voice comes over the speaker after four rings and relentless praying for him to pick up.

"Jack?" She asks not realizing it is a stupid question.

"Jade, are you alright? You sound like you've seen a murder,"

"I...I think I'm going crazy," She stutters going through the house as fast as she can and flipping every light on.

"What makes you think that?" She hears him sit onto the chair in the living room.

She explains what she remembers, from the woman on the side walk to waking up minutes ago, and the voices around her.

"Jade, you need to calm down," He tires to put her fears to rest over the phone.

"I...I can't. I can't stop shaking," She sits at her dinning room table with a hand in her hair, pulling at it lightly, just enough to feel the pain to know she is awake and alive.

"Do you want me to come over there?" He suddenly asks, realizing he isn't getting any where over the phone. She nods her head quickly, "Hello?"

"Yes, could you come over?" She says quickly, some how forgetting he can't see her nod her head.

"Alright, I'll be over in a bit. Don't aswer the door until I call you again," He warns, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand,"

"Alright, stay put," With that he hangs up.

He puts the phone on the side table and stands, going to the bedroom to put cloths on, "Those idiots are getting reckless," He grumbles throwing on a pair of pajama pants and a white t-shirt, "I laid out simple rules, did I not?" He asks the dresser as he puts socks on, "How hard is it to follow four rules?" He chuckles to himself, "Apparently very difficult,"

"Am I loosing my mind?" she asks her table, looking out at the slowly moving city below her through the trees from her window, "Am I simply sleep walking?" Her eyes widen, "That must be it!" She stands suddenly, only to be reminded of the wound in her leg, "But what could I have been stabbed by?" She makes her way into the bathroom to clean and dress it. On the way, she looks for objects she could have stabbed herself on, only to find nothing. As she dresses the wound, she finds it looks worse than it is, "Maybe I did it to myself," She ponders this, but can't think of a way she would have made a perfectly circular wound with her fingers.

She jumps as her phone begins to vibrate, quickly she answers it, "Hello?"

"I'm outside the door, can you let me in?" Jack asks as he knocks on her door.

She hangs up and lets him in. Both taking in the other's appearance in their pajama's. Him in his pants and T-shirt. Her in tattered pants and sweater.

"Isn't it cold in here?" He asks her as heat from the hallway flows into her apartment.

"I guess so," She shrugs her shoulders lightly, feeling much better to have some one else with her

"So, what do you want to do? I can't stay here all night, but I can take you back to my house and set you up in the spare room again," She nods her head shortly and he smiles down at her, "Alright, pack some things, I'll wait for you in the hallway,"

"Okay, thanks," She hears him close the door behind him as she makes her way back to her bed room. _Underware, socks, a shirt, a different pair of pants._ She glares down at her pants and sweater, torn almost to uselessness, especially in the cold, late autom weather. _charger, hat...I think that should be everything...Oh pajama's would be nice. A different pair of socks. These are wet. How did I not notice that before?_ After laying everything out, she starts jamming it carelessly into her duffel bag she fished out from her closet.

"Are you ready?" Jack asks in the hallway, leaning on the wall.

"Yah, sorry to wake you up this late," She looks down at her cold, wet shoes, "I just didn't know what to do,"

"It's alright, I think you made the right choice," He puts a hand on her shoulder, turns her lightly and leads her to the exit of the building, "How does some tea sound when we get to my place?" He asks looking over at her in the passenger seat.

"No thank you, I'd just like to go to sleep," She tries stretching her legs out again, "I feel like I've been hit by a truck,"

He laughs lightly Knowing those two, it wouldn't surprise me.

"Alrighty, here we are, you know the way," He opens the door for her as she readjusts her bag, nods her head and goes to the spare room and closes the door to get changed, "If you need anything, feel free to help yourself to the kitchen and bathroom," He calls through the door as she pulls on her long sleeved pajama top, "I'm going back to bed, I'll talk to you in the morning,"

"Okay, thanks," She hears his foot falls decrease as he goes back to his bedroom. Once dressed, she climbs into the creaky bed after turning the light off and falls asleep quickly, feeling safer being with some one else.

"Hello, Cheshier," Jack says through a cell phone, "Are you and your father stupid?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"The fact that I have her sleeping in my house because of your fuck up!"

"My goodness, some one hasn't gotten their beauty sleep," She teases through the phone.

"One more mistake and I'm taking her away,"

"Alright, alright, no need to make threats. It won't happen again,"

"It had better not," With that, he hangs up angrily, then chuckles darkly, "So funny how Amy decided to name her Jade, those two have so much in common its a joke," He begins laughing histarically at the basement ceiling.


	16. movie dreams

"Jade," The man looks across at her from a round white table, "I'll be seeing you again soon,"

"Not like I don't see you every night in my head any way," She rolls her eyes at him, taking a cookie off the table, "Even though this is a dream, it would be nice to actually taste these," She comments eating the oatmeal raisin cookie slowly. She looks up at the man, hearing silence, "What, for once you have nothing to say?" She asks raising an eye brow.

"You're not listening to me," He replies angrily.

"Well, it would be nice if you told me why the hell you won't get out of my head,"

"I'm here to make sure you don't get yourself killed,"

"Then, why did you let me go?"

"I didn't."

"Okay, who's the crazy one now? You, for forgetting what you did, or me who keeps dreaming of a crazy bat man giving me false warnings?" She asks him with curiosity.

"Jade," A new voice echo's in her mind as she feels her shoulder being nudged, "Jade, you've been sleeping for fourteen hours," Slowly, she gets up from the table, goes to the white door to find a door nob.

"If you go through that door now, I won't be able to help you," The man in black warns standing himself, glaring at her, waiting for her decision.

"You don't help any way, you just pester me," She says not looking back. She grabs hold of the door nob and pulls the door.

"Jade, are you alright?" Jack's voice echo's around her.

Through the door is a black oil substance flowing , upon opening the door, it begins to flood the white room, "What is this?" She asks the man. Not receiving an answer she turns around to find he is gone, "Yep, not helpful," She grumbles closing the door, "Alright, I'm done here for now," She says to herself as she forces her eyes open.

"Goodness, you sure are a heavy sleeper," Jack greets her.

"What time is it?" She asks feeling her body stiff.

"Two in the afternoon," He replies taking a step back for her to stand.

"Wow," Is all she says as she stretches her stiff limbs. In response, getting loud pops and cracks from her joints, "I sure did sleep good though,"

"That's good, now do you want breakfast or lunch?" He asks with a half smile, finding the question amusing in it's own right.

"I'll take lunch if you don't mind,"

"Sure, I'll whip us up some sandwiches," He turns and walks out of the room, closing the door to give her privacy to change.

 _Honestly, if I see that man again, I might just punch him in the face and tell him to get the fuck out of my head._ She thinks stubbornly as she pulls her day cloths on. A blue and black plad, long sleeved, button up shirt with blue, boot cut jeans. Maybe I should have gone through the door...She grabs the bedroom door and opens it, half expecting the oil goo to meet her on the other side, instead, Jack waits with a plate of two sandwiches, complete with letteus, tomato, bacon, ham, mayo and mustard.

"Here you are, I hope you like mustard on your sandwich," He smiles broadly as she takes the plate eagerly.

"Only way to eat once, right?" She asks as her stomach growls with delight.

"Got that right," They walk into the living room and begin eating in silence.

"So, um...Are you kicking me out for the day?" She asks suddenly on the last bite.

"No, if you want to stay you can, I don't have anything to do today." He looks up at her from his meal, "What about your job?"

"I have paid medical leave because of what happened. They deemed me unsuited for work on health issues,"

"Oh, well that's good. It gives you time to get your self together again," He smiles as he turns his back on her to look out the window at the main street full of busseling cars, bikes and people. _Excellent actually_

"Well in that case, I have nothing to do either." She stairs at him as he turns around slowly, "Do you want to do something?" She asks shyly having no idea what fathers and teenage daughters do together.

"What do you have in mind?" The same thoughts go through his brain.

"Um..." The both ponder, having not one idea.

"We could get some movies," He suggests finding that no one can refuse a good movie.

"Sure, what kinds do you like?"

"Horror," He replies bluntly.

"Interesting,"

"Hm?" he tilts his head slightly to the side, his choppy, blond hair shifting with the motion.

"We've only known each other for less than a week, and yet we have so much in common. Who knew that genetics could carry so much information,"

"I agree," He stands suddenly, his light blue jeans and purple t-shirt shuffling with the motion, "Well, let's go pick out some movies then,"

After a short trip to and from the store, they get back to Jack's home, shut all the blinds and make this living room into a in home theater, complete with soda and popcorn.

"This is nice, I've never had a movie night with any one but my mother," Jack simply nods his head and proceeds to put the first movie in.

Four movies and nine hours later, Jade falls asleep on the couch, curled in a blue Afghan blanket.

Jack gets up from his seat in the chair and glides over to her, bends down and whispers in her ear, "Gabrial," Her eyes open slowly and she stairs up at him blankly, "Let's go, you have work to do,"


	17. Subconscious encouters

"You never listen,"

"Holey shit," She stands from the white table, making the white chair screech across the floor, "I'm not dealing with this crap tonight,"

"Why do you get angry when I'm around?" The man walks up behind her, "Is it because I intimidate you?"

"No, it's because you annoy me," She spits back, "All you ever do is tell me what I should and shouldn't do. No reasons, and guess what?"

"What?"

"Rhetorical question, but, no results to back up your 'warnings,'" she air quotes, then crosses her arms and glares up at the man.

He stays silent, as if not knowing what to say, "That's what I thought. Now if you don't mind, I'm leaving,"

"You can't leave right now,"

"Like hell I can't,"

Cold, freezing cold is what she awakens to. Chills rack through her body. Her feet are wet, wind blows past her. She feels her feet hit the ground. One after the other. _Where am I going? Why am I running...Wasn't I asleep just a second ago?_

"That was fast," A gruff man's voice rumbles, "Now go back, deliver this," She feels a heavy, square object be set into her out stretched hands, "Deliver this to Icecicle Jr," She feels her head nod, then she begins running again.

 _Why can't I see anything? I can't control my body. What the hell is going on?_ She screams in her head.

"This is what I was warning you about," The man appears next to her subconscious self "You are being used,"

 _How do I make myself stop"_ She asks in desperation pounding her fists against an unseen force.

"You can't," With that he dissapears, leaving her to simply watch, helpless.

"Well hello, sweet cheeks," A blue skinned boy with what looks like frozen hair sticking straight up from his head greets with a large smile, "Come back already to see me again?" He asks putting a hand up to her face, "I feel so honored,"

 _Freek! Get your filthy, freezing hand off me!_ She screams at the top of her lungs, only to have her phyical self do nothing.

"If only you didn't have such a blank stair when you look at me with those lively green eyes," He pouts at her running his cold tumb up and down her cheeck, "Well, back to business I guess," he bends down to pick up a box by his feet, "Give this to Joker, then your job for tonight will probably be done," He brings his face closer to hers, "If you get lonely tonight, don't hesitate to come find me," He winks at her, then turns away.

 _What a freek_. She turns to the black clad man next to her once again who just looks on expressionless _I thought you were leaving_. _Does this shit happen every night? Is this what you meant by being used?_

"Yes, this has happened almost every night since you blew the bank up," He sighs heavily, then looks down at her, "The night should be over soon. You need to go find help."

 _Okay, but how do I find help? What am I going to do? Walk into the police station, tell them that I sleep walk and preforme villinious acts at night that I don't remember when I wake up? Who's going to believe me?_

"You need to go find the man who looks like me,"

 _I thought you were that man._

"I can't control what you make me look like, I'm just a product of you,"

 _Great._

She looks back to see she comes to a ware house by the water. She slips in through a crack in the door and walks down several hallways until she finds a lite room.

"That was fast," The man who abducted her replies with a large, sadistic smile pained on his face, "Looks like you brought me a present," he walks closer to her, "How sweet," He takes the black box, turns and walks toward a metal desk, sits behind it and opens the box, "Good job, your work is done for tonight," He stands and walks back over to her, leans down and whispers in her ear, "Say hello to Amy for me," Then darkness.


	18. What to do

"Jade," She feels her shoulder being shaken lightly, "Jade, it's time to wake up,"

 _Is that Jack? Ugh, let me sleep man, I'm tired._

"Jade, you need to get up, you've been in bed for fourteen hours again,"

 _Dude, lay off. I'm tired._

"Jade!" She jolts awake at the stern voice, "Goodness, I thought you were comatose for a while," He smiles slightly down at her, "How are you feeling today?"

She forces herself to sit up as her elbows crack, "Ugh, like I got hit by a train," She groans as she rubs her tempels, "Do you have any asprin?"

"You'll have to eat something with them,"

"Yah, I know."

"Well, I have some sandwiches made for you if your interested,"

"A cup of coffee sounds like heaven right now,"

"I'll get some ready for you,"

"Can I use your shower?"

"Of corse you can, I'll have your coffee and lunch ready when you get out,"

"Thanks. I appreciate it,"

He leaves and closes to the door to give her some privacy as she hauls herself out of bed.

 _I really need to get back to work. I can't be bumming around my father's house all the time. I feel like a burden._ She opens the door and makes her way down the hall. _I wonder what day it is. They keep blurring together with out a work schedule._

After her shower, and getting dressed again, she makes her way out into the kitchen where Jack sits at the table reading the news paper.

"So, what do you have planned for today?" He asks as she scoots a chair out and sits across from him.

"Getting ready for work tomorrow,"

"Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"I think so. I'm going crazy sitting around the house like a bum," She takes a few bites of her sandwich, "Speaking of, I'm sorry if I'm intruding on your space. It's really nice that you have me over and everything, but if you ever want to kick me out, don't feel bad. It's not like I don't have a home of my own to go to,"

"It doesn't bother me, honestly it's nice having company over."

"Oh," Silence ensues for the duration of her meal.

"So, you like the lunch?" Jack asks as he folds the paper and puts it back down on the side of the table.

"I don't know what you do, but you make some of the best sandwiches," She smiles as she takes the last remaining bites.

"Nothing too special, just two pieces of bread and stuff in the middle,"

"Isn't that every sandwich?"

"Exactly," The laugh lightly as Jade swigs down the coffee and sighs heavily, feeling better having caffine corsing through her vains.

"Well, I really appreciate everything you've done for me, but I'm going to get going. I got some bills to pay, a boss to contact and meals to plan,"

"Alright," He stands with her to show her to the door, "Do you want a ride home?"

"No, I'm good, thanks, I'll walk. It looks like a nice day out," She glances out the window to see the late fall sun shining through the half naked trees, birds chirping and people busseling just trying to make it from point A to point B.

"Alright, be safe,"

"Thanks, I will, bye,"

As he closes the door, he pulls out his cell phone, "Cheshire, I need you to be sloppy again. She just left for her home again, make her feel the need for safty. Start leaving duds around the apartment, faulse information, objects. Make her deliver more, make her soar in the morning, be ovbious, just don't let her remember," He begins to laugh, "Very good," With that, he hangs up the phone and walks toward the basement.

She takes a deep breath of the crisp autumn air, listens to the crunch of dead leaves at her feet, sokes up the sight of the reds, yellows, browns, and oranges all around. Man, I love fall. She can't help the small smile that plays on her lips as she walks back to her apartment.

"Hay there, cutie," a boy's voice calls out behind her. She doesn't bother turning around, I really wish people wouldn't flaunt their displays of affection in public. "Hay, I'm talking to you!" She hears foot falls rush up behind her, forcing her to turn around out of instinct. She see's a pail skinned boy with spiky blond hair, a blue T-shirt and torn jeans rushing up to her. _Great, just what I wanted to deal with, a love sick freek._ She sighs, rolls her eyes and turns back around to continue walking, all peace drained out of the colors around her, "Hay! Don't ignore me!" He catches up and starts walking next to her, his hands find their way into his pockets, "How are you doing today, sweet cheecks?" Her head pounds harshly causing her left hand to fly up to it to try in vain to stop it from exploding.

"Go away, you cause me phycial pain listening to your voice," She grumbles, picking up the pace.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that!" He easily jogs to catch up once again, "You probably don't remember me, but I know more about you than you think," He wiggles his eye brows and smiles at her.

"Look, I don't want any trouble, and I definitely don't want any of your fun, so fuck off,"

"Oh, so cold. I like that," He grabs her by the wrist and twirls her around, leans down and whispers, "Have you ever heard of the arch angle Gabriel?"

 _So here I am again. Why can't I remember any of this when I wake up?_ She watches from inside her head at the world rushing by, following the blue boy from last night.

"It's because you are the subconscious, you arn't exactly connected to the conscious,"

 _No kidding, I get that, but really. Who ever designed that set up is an idiot._ She plops down on the non existant floor and crosses her arms in frustration.

"So, God is an idiot,"

 _Yah, sure._

Silence ensues as they watch random scenes play out before them, from taking various objects and delivering them to various strange people, to relaying messages that make absolutly no sence.

"You know, you could end this,"

 _How? I've already tried to take control back, but my body isn't mine when I'm like this._

While your contious self is asleep, give warnings, it might be different if you hear them from yourself, instead of me. You always get so grumpy when I'm around," The man almost pouts.

 _Well, that's because your not only annoying, but an eye soar as well._

Ten hours pass until finally, a woman wearing a white cat mask marked with red lines leads her back to her room through the balcony window, "Amy,"


	19. Too much

Waking up slowly, she feels her body hurt all over. She feels like one big bruise. Opening her eyes, she looks out the window she lays under. The moon is high in the sky, "What the hell?" She yells trying to stand, only to fall to the floor, her legs not able to support her own weight, "What is going on?" She asks the floor as she holds her upper body with wobbling arms, "Wasn't I walking home just a few seconds ago?" Shock hits her like a wall of ice, "That boy, he did something to me, didn't he?" Her breathing comes in gasps as she begins to tremble, until finally, she passes out.

"Hay, feel like crap, don't you?"

 _Great, now I'm going even more crazy, just hand me the damn straight jacket now._ She see's herself walking towards her, blond hair flowing down her back, rosie cheeks and an over all healthy glow.

"No, I promise. I thought so to at first, but your not,"

 _Then what's going on?_

"I'm not sure myself, all I know is we're being used for something,"

 _Great, you sound like that black bat idiot._

"Yah, I know, but sadly, he was right all along,"

 _Okay, so what do I do?_

"Um...haven't really thought about that myself...I guess just try to get help,"

 _From who? Jack?_

"Yah, I'm sure between the two of you, you can figure something out,"

 _What the hell am I supposed to say? Hi Dad, um. I think I'm getting kidnapped in my sleep and forced to do things that I don't remember. How well do you think that will go? If he doesn't think I'm nuts already, he sure will after that conversation._

"Your just going to have to figure that out,"

 _What ever, your useless to._

She wakes up the next morning to a pounding on her door, "Jade, are you in there?"

As fast as she can she gets up off the floor where she collapsed last night, "Hello?" She opens the door to see her land lord, "Sir, is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not dear,"

"Why, what's going on?"

"I'm afriad I have to evict you,"

"What?" She yells fear setting in quickly, making her heart race, "Why? Rent isn't even due yet, is it?"

"It was due over a week ago, and on top of that, I've had numorous complaints that you have had several strange people in your apartment making quite a racket,"

Sweat runs down her face as she begins to shiver. Fear making her mind race, and go completely blank at the same time. Her feet freeze while her face burns hot, "I...I um, I'll be moved out by tomorrow morning, I am so sorry for any inconveniences I have caused you or any of your other tenets," With that being said she closes the door and falls to the floor. She grabs her hair and begins to pull. What do I do? It's been weeks! What happened to me? Where do I go? Do I even have a job any more? What happened to me? What happened to me? She repeats it in her head, screaming for answers.

Her phone begins to ring suddenly, causing her to jump, "He...Hello?"

"Jade? Jade, where on Earth have you been?" Jack yells over the phone, "It's been weeks. I've tried calling you. I havn't heard or seen you in weeks! Are you alright?"

"Um..Nnn..No, I'm not." She takes a deep breath, "I...um. I just got evicted from my apartment. I'm not sure if I even have a job any more. I...I don't know how much time has passed. I ..." She begins to sob uncontrolably, "I don't know what's going on. I think I'm loosing my mind," She sobs into the phone.

"Jade, I'll be right over, you stay put, don't move. I'll help you pack and we can move you into my place. Don't worry, everything is going to be fine," He tries to sooth her ever growing fears, "Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Yah,"

"Alright, don't move. Don't touch anything stay exactly where you are,"

"Okay," With that he hangs up, letting her look at her phone.

Fourty eight missed calls, eight teen unheard messages. Her heart races anew as she see's the stores number multipul times. She takes a shaky breath and diels the voice mail.

"You have eight teen unheard messages,"

"Jade, this is Jack, just wondering how you've been it's been a couple of days, wanted to know how work was going. Give me a call back,"

"Jade, this is Kim, I was wonder when you were comming back to work, it's been almost a month, your medical leave has expired. Give me a call back as soon as you can,"

"Jade, it's Jack again. I'm getting a bit worried about you, I stopped over today, but you weren't home, give me a call back,"

"Jade, it's Kim. I'm sorry to inform you that your position has been filled,"

"Jade, it's Jack again. I don't know what's going on, but you need to let me know if your alright. It's been almost a month,"

Message after message fills her head as shock sets into her body. She begins to go numb, letting the phone drop to the floor as she leans against the door.

 _I'm done._

"Jade, it's Jack, are you still in there?" She hears him knock on the door, but can't get herself to move, "Jade, I'm comming in," He tires to push the door open, but hits her back with a muffeled thud, "Jade, you need to come away from the door. Come on, let me in. I'm here to help you, remember?"

"I...I can't move," She manages to mumble under her breath as she passes out.

 _What the fuck is going on?_

"It's all starting to come together," The man says quietly, "It's only going to get worse from here," He begins to fade.

 _Wait, get back here! I'm not done with you yet!_

"Jade? Jade, can you hear me?" She pries her eyes open to see Jack holding her upper body in his arms, "Jade? Are you with me?"

"Yah, I'm here,"

"What's been going on? Where have you been? You look like a mess!"

"I don't know. I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember is walking home from your house. Then some blond haired freek came up to me and started flirting with me," Jack helps her sit up.

"Well, how about you sit here and rest for a bit, I'll start packing your things, sit tight,"

"Okay,"

With in a half an hour, Jack has her things pack back up into her bags that she came with. He swings them onto his back and goes over to her where she sits, on the floor. Stairing at the wall unseeing, "Alright, all packed and ready to go, I'll help you up, can you give me your hand?"

She nods her head and slowly lifts her hand. I feel so weak. I feel like I just ran a marathon for five days straight with out rest.

"Alright, up we go," He pulls her up and swings her arm over his shoulders and helps her out of the building, into the car waiting outside, "Where's the key? You should leave it in the apartment,"

"It's in there,"

"Alright, stay there, we'll get you home in a few minutes," He closes her door and goes to the back of the car to throw her things into the trunk, "Alright, home we go," He looks over to see her asleep, her face pressed into the seat belt.

I think I gave them way too much freedom with her.


	20. In the grip of death

"When I said give her more work, I did not mean three and a half weeks straight!" he yells into the phone in the basement, "You're lucky you didn't kill her, or I'd kill you," He sneers looking into the vanity mirror, "Your privileges have been revoked," Yelling can be heard on the other end as he hangs up the phone in anger.

When he had pulled into the drive way, she was fast asleep. He tried waking her up in several ways, only to have her face twitch or mumble something. He ended up carrying her inside and tucking her into the spare room bed, followed by her belongings setting them on the floor, then making the phone call.

He walks back into the room, anger swirling inside him. _Honestly, who thinks 'more work' means work her to the brink of death? No sleep, nothing to eat, probably barely any water. Even I wouldn't do that._ He opens the door a crack to peek inside.

Her face a bright red, her breaths coming in wheezing gasps. She shivers violently under the thick blanket, "Great. What am I supposed to do with that?" He asks walking up to her. He places a hand on her forehead, only to pull away quickly, "That's not normal," He walks back out and pulls out his phone.

After a few rings, the other line picks up, "I'm in need of your services,"

"In what way?" A smooth voice asks from the other line.

"Those imbeciles went too far,"

"How so?"

"No rest for over three weeks. I have her in my custody, now she's dealing with repercussions that her body can't cope with. In other words, she's dying. Either you come up with some mirical cure, or you will have to pay for a hospital visit,"

"I'll deal with the hospital. She is valuable to the cause, I'll set you up with one of the best,"

"Don't worry, this is only a bump,"

"Agreed," With that, they hang up. He walks back into the room.

"Jade," He shakes her roughly. She turns her head to his voice, "Jade, I'm going to take you need to go to the hospital, come on, sit up, let's put your shoes on,"

"I...I ca...n't afford...a," Quickly she falls back to sleep, the wheezing grown worse.

 _At least she's light,_ He picks her up bridal style, keeping the blankets over her and takes her out to the car.

Laying her in the back seat, he starts the car and races toward the hospital, with each minute he can almost feel her slipping away. _What the hell did they do to her?_ He races past snow piles and turns the defrost on, trying to see through the fog on the windows building quickly in the eight teen degree weather. _This isn't simply a cold. I should have checked her for injuries before I put her in the bed. How did this come on so quickly_. He feels his heart race as if in a panic. _This is rather interesting. Am I feting over her well being? Or for the cause? Hm. Interesting._

He ponders as he pulls up to the hospital's emergency room, "Sir, this is for ambulances only,"

"I don't care, my daughter, I don't know what's going on with her, she's been missing for twenty five days," He lets the interesting feelings take over his face and voice as the nurses' faces become serious.

"Where is she?"

"In the back seat," One yells to get a stretcher as the brown haired nurse swings open the door to find Jade passed out, laying in the back seat, blood coming out of her nose as crackling wheezes come at an astonishing rate.

"Dear God, what happened to her?"

"I don't know, I put her to bed after she fell asleep on the way home. I left her alone for about fifteen minutes and came back to her like this," He watches as they lift her onto the gurnie and briskly wheel her inside.

"Honestly, I think she's more trouble than she's worth right now," He glares through the windsheild as he finds a parking space through the dusting on the pavement.

"What are her vitals?"

"Heart rate is 180. Temperature is seventy nine. Blood pressure is seventy or fifty. oxygen saturation is fifty percent,"

As they rush her down the hallway the nurses look at each other, "This girl is dying,"

Jack rounds the corner to hear the words leave a black haired nurse. His heart drops into his feet. _Dying? Why do I feel fear? She is a tool, nothing more. A toy, a play thing. He looks at his hands Why am I shaking? Do I CARE for her? Why do I care for her? Just because she is my daughter?_ Upon hearing the word in his head, he feels his face grow pail.

"Sir?" Another nurse walks up to him, "Sir, we will do our best to keep her going, but I must ask you sit out here while we examine her," He simply nods his head and finds a chair in the waiting room.

The doors swing open to the Intensive care unit, "Come on huny, stay with us. You can't leave your family behind," The blond haired nurse says holding her hold, clammy hand as they put the bed into position. They begin cutting her torn, tattered, wet cloths off to reviel wounds littering her body. An oxygen mask is placed over her face and a pulse oximeter on her right pointer finger. An IV goes into her right arm while two more nurses begin cleaning and dressing the nurmorous wounds ranging from deep stab wounds, to cuts to light scratches, all infected.

"What do we have?" The doctor walks in.

One nurse repeats the vitals as well as the fourty nine injuries on her body, "Alright, let's begin,"

"You look scared," A voice from behind Jack jests lightly, "Not developing a heart now, are you?"


	21. Getting threats while being a bum

After a grueling four hours and nineteen minutes, listen to Lex Luther talk about his intermidial triffels and worries about his company, a nurse walks out of the ICU, "Sir, your daughter is now stable, you can go see her if you'd like,"

With out a word, Jack leaves Lex's side while in the middle of a sentence and walks through the doors, "What room?"

"Room six," Almost like a zombie, he makes his way to the door and opens it. Jade lays on the bed, clean, white blankets cover her body while an oxygen mask covers her face. Her heart monitor beeps with the beat of her heart.

"Jade?" He asks as he pulls a chair up next to the bed, "Jade, can you hear me?" No sign plays on her face, but a slight jump on the heart monitor answers his question, "Jade, it's going to be alright, you're going to rest for a while before any more work,"

"Hm, interesting, she certainly has your nose," Lex walks through the door and stands behind him, "So who used her?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I know Sports Master and Chechire took her, but into how many hands she played, I don't know, I'll give you the answer once I do,"

"Well, if that's all, I'll be leaving, just wanted to see if we would need a new pawn or not,"

Jack's voice takes on a sinister tone, "That would be interesting to see how he would react, now wouldn't it?" He begins cackling, not looking up at the man's face.

"Yes, very," Lex turns and walks out, leaving Joker and Jade alone.

"Make sure you get better soon, the finale is coming shortly after," He again laughs as he puts his hand on her green hair.

"Sir, I will need some information from you about your daughter," In the drop of a hat, Jack is back and walks out with the nurse.

"Hay, sweet cheeks,"Icicle Jr. greets the sleeping girl after sneaking into the room while Jack is busy with the nurse, "How are you feeling? Probably not too cool." He puts a cold hand on her face, causing a slight increase in her heart rate, "I hope to play with you again soon," With that, he leaves quickly barley avoiding Jack.

 _Dehydration, starvation, hypothurmia, fourty nine infected wounds of varying levels of savarity, pneumanoia, bronchitis and frost bite of all her fingers and toes, luckily those weren't bad at all. Good God, what the hell?_ He thinks as he takes his seat next to the girl, "You're going to get a nice, long rest, don't you worry about anything for a while,"

Hm...She sighs deeply _So warm, so soft, so comfy! So much better than before. I wonder where I am. Actually, I don't really care right now._ A small smile plays on her lips as she sighs deeply once again.

"Jade?" Jack is awakened by her sighs, sleeping with his head on the side of the bed, "Jade, can you hear me?" He asks as he watches her green eyes slowly open.

"Dad?" Complete confusion racks her brain as she looks around, "Where am I?"

"Your in the hospital. You gave me quite a scare," He smiles down at her, "How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. Why am I in the hospital?"

"Well, when I came to pick you up, you weren't all there. You fell asleep in the car. I had to carry you to the room. I came back to check on you a little while later and you were wheezing, your face was red, but your body was like ice. I ended up rushing you here,"

"God, I'm so sorry! I...I'll find a way to pay you back!" She tries sitting up, only to feel the pull of stitches in nurmorous places on her body.

"No need for that at all, the only thing you need to do is get better," He lightly pushes her back into the bed and covers her up again, "Are you hungry?"

"A little...I'm dying for some chocolate pudding,"

"Alright, you relax, I'll go get you some," He stands as she nods her head.

One week passes while Jade recovers in the hospital, "So, how are we feeling today, Jade?" The doctor walks in. Orange, red hair cut into a high and tight at the top of his head, brown eyes and white coat.

"Good. Can I go home now?"

The doctor laughs, "You've been asking that since you woke up, and today you get the same answer," Jade lays back against the pillow propped against the bed adjusted for a sitting position, "But, ask me tomorrow and you might get a difference answer," He smiles as he walks over to check her IV, vitals and ask her a few questions.

"Um, doctor?" She asks before he leave, Jack out to get her a change of cloths and shower supplies, "How bad was I when I came in?"

"Well," he rubs the back of his neck, "No one thought you would pull through,"

"You mean I almost died?" She asks a surprisingly nutural look on her face.

"Yes, actually. And I can't believe you don't remember anything for the three and a half weeks you were missing,"

 _Some how I manage to do that alot._ She turns her attention to a closed window. She hears the doctor leave and close the door behind him. She reaches out and pulls the blinds up to let the bright winter sun flood the room.

She hears the door open again and quickly turns her head, expecting to see a tall bald man in a suit, "Hello, Jade, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, Um...Who are you?"

"Oh, how rude of me, my name is Lex Luther."

"Um...okay, why are you in my room?" She asks rudly, covering herself up with the blankets, not feeling comfortable in just the hospital gown.

"Just wanted to check up on you. Your father and I are close acquaintances,"

"Still doesn't answer my question, why are you in my room? You could have just called. They do have these nifty inventions made around March tenth eight teen seventy six I do believe,"

"My my, the apple sure didn't fall far from the tree did it?" He takes a step closer and the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"You need to leave," She narrows her eyes and glares at him, trying her best to look intimidating.

"How rude considering I've been paying for you're stay here,"

"I appreciate it greatly, but you need to leave," She affermes it louder, hopping to get the attention of a nurse.

"So ungrateful, could it be you are afraid of me?" He begins walking closer to her. She immediately stands on the bed, having the IV ripped from her arm and the heart monitor fall from her finger, making the machine flat line.

"If you don't get out now,"

"You'll what? Hurt me? Your powerless against a man my size," He smiles innocently, as if he were having an interview.

"Do you really want to make that wager?"

"What is going on in here?" A nurse swings the door open, "Sir, you need to leave!" She yells grabbing his arm and pulling him out of the room. He looks back and smiles at Jade who breaths heavily, slight wheezing is heard outside. Once the door is closed, he hears her begin coughing violently.

Another nurse rushes into the room to find Jade kneeling on the floor, hand on her chest, "Jade, what happened?" She helps Jade back into the bed and gives her an oxygen mask, "Jade, are you hurt?" She shakes her head no and lays back into the pillow, "Are you alright? Did that man hurt you?" She again shakes her head, "Did he threaten you?"

"The words he used weren't threatening, but his motives I think were," She whispers, wishing Jack would hurry up.

"Let's get an IV back in you, and get your heart rate back on the monitor," The nurse quickly gets Jade hooked back up, fluffs her pillow and asks if she needs anything else to which she shaks her head no, "If you need anything, just push the red button on this," She shows Jade the remote attached to the bed and leaves.

After a while, Jade falls asleep.

"Today, members of the Justice league save the day again,"

 _What the hell?_

"A bank robbery thwarted by the Flash's, a plain hijacking stopped by Super man, and an armed gun man in a school stopped by Green arrow and Speedy. Thankfully we have the Justice Legue," A female voice comes through the T.V. as Jade opens her eyes, annoyed that some one turned it on in the first place. She looks next to her to see Jack watching it intently.

"What is this crap?" She asks making Jack jump slightly.

"It's the news," He replies shortly, not expecting her to wake up so soon, "I heard you had a run in with Mr. Luther,"

"Is the relationship between the two of you along the lines of keep your friends close and your enemies closer?"

"You could say that," He narrows his eyes slightly as he looks back up at the screen, "They're letting you go in two more days with medication and an order of bed rest,"

"Great! So I can go from being a bum in one bed, to being a bum in another!" Jack glares at her, only to begin laughing at the humor of her glaring eyes and pouting lips.

"I don't find it funny,"

"That's part of what makes it funny,"

"What ever," She looks toward the window to find it closed, "Why did you close the window?"

"There's not much to look at out there, Jade, just snow and dead trees," He looks down at her, eyebrows down with annoyance at her attitude.

"I want to see the sunlight, I feel like it's been forever since I got to see it,"

"So," Jack lifts the remote up and shuts the T.V off, much to Jade's relief, "what can you tell me about your dissapearing act?"

"Not much at all. I remember walking home and a boy with blond hair started talking to me, then I woke up in my apartment and got the news of everything,"

"Nothing in between?"

"No, nothing,"

"How strange,"


	22. Health into temporary happiness

The remaining two days of her forced rehibiltation time in the hospital drages by slowly, until "You are free to go Jade Clines,"

"FINALLY!" She yells grabbing the cloths Jack had brought for her two days ago, walking into the bathroom and changing as quickly as she can.

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Yes!" She walks out of hte bathroom, a large smile on her face as Jack helps her into a winter coat he bought for her. The white with gray trim compliments her pail skin.

"Alright, lets get you signed out and we can go home." He leads her out of the room to the main desk and signs her out, "So, what do you want to do when we get home?"

"Hm...I'm not sure yet." They make their way slowly outside and to the car.

"Well, I need to pick some things up at the store, so I'll drop you off at home, will you be okay on your own for a little bit?"

"Yah, I'll be fine," She yawns loudly, "I'll probably just take a nap,"

"Alright, I'll have my phone if you need anything,"

"Okay," They pull into the drive way and he helps her into the house seeing as she's still a bit wobbily and slow.

"Okay, here you go, I won't be long," She nods her head as he closes the bedroom door and leaves the house. She listens to his car pull back out of the drive way.

 _A shower sounds amazing right now._ She makes her way down the hall to the bathroom. Once the temperature is perfect, she steps in and feels all her tense muscles relax slowly. _It's amazing how much Jack has done for me in such a short time. He's really a nice guy. I'll have to repay him some how. I just don't know how to..._ After a few minutes just standing, she slowly washes herself and leaves the shower to dry off and get dressed in some pajamas. She yawns loudly and stretches best she can with a few stitches left as she makes her way back to her room. She crawls into bed and falls asleep quickly.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing? Clearly I'm being annoyed by you, again," She tells the dark figure back in the white room, sitting at the white table.

"You're in the wrong place,"

"No kidding. I got kicked out of my place and I lost my job, thanks for bringing that back up," She sneers at him.

"You can't stay here, it's not safe,"

"Yah, you're right, I'm loosing my sanity WAY faster than I'd ever want to," With that she gets up and goes to the door, "Can I leave with out loosing you?"

"Am I finally growing on you?"

She laughs lightly, "I guess,"

"Yes, you can go, I'll be here next time." She opens the door, only to have him suddenly appear next to her and close it slowly, "Before you go, something big is comming," He warns.

"Like what?"

"Jade, I got pizza for you," She hears knocking on the bedroom door. She rolls over and opens her eyes.

"Pizza?" She asks sleepily, standing and slowly making her way to the door to open it. She see's Jack holding a pizza box out to her.

"I got a movie to, how about you join me in the living room?"

"Okay, just let me get a sweater,"

Two weeks go by of Jack and Jade laughing, talking about various topics ranging from favorite foods to what they think the meaning of life is and simply enjoying each other's company.

 _It's so nice to not have memory lapses_ She smiles at her father over a bowl of cereal across the table, "So, what's on the plan for today?"

"Actually, I have a meeting to go to, I was hopping you could walk to the store and pick up a few items for dinner tonight. Do you think you're up for that?"

"Yah, no problem,"

"Great, I'll need some bead, eggs, and pasta sauce,"

"Alright,"

"My meeting's at one thirty, I should be back my three or four, I'll have my phone on if anything happens,"

"I'll be fine, don't worry,"

"Alright, a twenty should be enough," He slips the bill across the table and looks at the clock.

They ended up having a late morning, having stayed up until four in the morning discussing why evelotion hasn't made any significate changes in the past two hundred years.

"Alright, I should get ready, it's almost one already,"

"Alright, have fun, or what ever you have at a meeting," Jade stands and makes her way back to her room.

 _It's really nice not having to take all that medication any more. No pain, no coughing, no wheezing, nothing. So nice._

"Alright, be safe, I'm leaving!" Jack calls from the living room.

"I will, bye!" She gets dressed and ready to head out after she hears the car pull out and drive away.

 _Okay, pasta sauce, eggs and bread. Easy enough._ She puts the twenty into her back pocket after getting dressed, throws her coat and hat on and leaves.

In the weeks that had passed, the bruise on her face had faded, the wounds now scars, and the pain in her mind and heart had dulled to a painful memory. For the first time in a while, she felt slight happiness. Her mother's death still lingers in the back of her mind. The pain and heart ach she feels still pangs when she puts the hat on. A painful reminder of the last birthday with the person she loved most in the world.

As she walks, she lets one tear roll down her face, only to be whipped away quickly, hidden in the lightly falling snow around her. I can't belive it's winter already. She turns the corner toward an ally and see's the mist from the sewer. Deffently didn't have that in Clintonville, yuck. Shortly she reaches the store, the warmth hitting her quickly.

"Jade?" Kim's voice yells from across the store at the service desk.

"Hi Kim," She walks up, unzipping her coat, "I'd like to appologize for my unschedualed leap of absents,"

"Where on earth were you?"

"I'm not sure. I don't remember anything while I was gone,"

"What do you mean you don't remember?"

"Just that, I don't remember. My mind is blank,"

"If you think that excuse will get you your job back, you are gravily mistaken," Kim says sternly, narrowing her eyes at Jade in disappointment.

"I already know I'm not getting the job back," She replies in the same bitterness, "I simply came here to pick up a few items my father sent me here for," She lightens her tone slightly, "Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going. I don't want to leave this on a bitter note either,"

"Neither do I," Kim takes a deep breath, then smiles at Jade, "Well, I hope nothing but the best for you Jade,"

"You to," She waves lightly, then goes off down the first isle, letting the entire encouter slip from her mind, not wanting anything to ruin her slightly good mood.

After paying for the items and recieving change, she zips her coat back up and steps back out into the freezing air. It nips at her nose roughly as she shivers slightly, quickening her pace, wanting to just curl up with a blanket in the living room.

She looks up at the falling snow from the sky as she passes the ally way. Suddenly, an arm reaches out and pulls her through the rank smog, "What the hell?"

"Why, hello again," A man's voice cackles behind her as he holds both her arms behind her back as she struggles, the grochrie bag fallen to the ground, the bread squished, eggs broken and the pasta sauce rolling into the middle of the road.

"Oh, hell no. I am NOT going through this shit again," She tries harder to get away from the man who's green hair shows from her peripheral vision.

"But you don't have much of a choice in the matter, now do you?"

"Bull shit I don't," She swings her head back, only to hit nothing and loose her balance.

"Feisty as ever I see," He laughs as she falls into his chest allowing him to twist her shoulders at a painful angle, making her hiss in pain, "Well, come along, we have much work to do," he begins laughing as he pulls her deeper into the ally way, "Stop stuggling!" He yells as she tries to twist her body and kick her legs.

"Then let go you sadistic freek!" She yells trying to force him toward a brick wall.

"That is enough out of you!" He yells lifting her up by the wrists, hearing the satisfying crack of her shoulders disolcate, "You WILL behave and do as you are told!" He snears into her face, letting the spit fly from his mouth onto her face which cringes in pain and glares in anger.

"Or what? You'll kill me? Could't go through with it last time either, could you?" She cracks a trembeling smile, "Your just making empty threats,"

He glares at her, a scowl growing ever larger on his face, until an almost inhuman grimice is shown to her, "Don't make me do something I will regret," he whispers, his face slidding past her view to speak into her ear, "Gabrial,"


	23. Into new hands

A blank, almost soulless stair shows in the vanity mirror as he ruffles her hair, putting a bit of gel to make it stick up in places, "Turn toward me," He whispers, lost in creativity. Slowly, her feet turn the chair to look at him, "Close your eyes," She does as she is told silently. He begins applying the white make up to her face, followed by drawing thick, black eyebrows, then the bright red lipstick, making her mouth look almost twice as big, "Now get dressed in this," He holds a suit out for her. She stands and takes the clothing as he turns to give her slight privacy.

After a few minutes, he turns back around to see her struggling with the purple tie, "Come here," He commands, she walks toward him briskly, letting him tie it tightly, "Now, listen carefully," He hands her a short silver rod with a red button on top, covered by a clear case, "Everything is in place, all you need to do is walk in, make a scene, and push the button, then you will be free," She nods her head. No emotion ever playing on her face as she takes the object, "Put this coat on, and don't let the hood come down until you get into the building," She takes the long, black trench coat with an over sized hood that is sowed on sloppily, "When you are done, you will have a very strong urge to come back home," She nods her head as she puts the coat on, buttons it all the way up and ties the leather straps into a neat bow, "Now go and cause mayhem in my name," He begins laughing loudly as she slips the rod into her left pocket and walks up the steps and out the back door.

 _"I told you something big was going to happen,"_ The dark man says sitting across the white table.

 _"Yah, and you never told me what,"_ She props her head up with her hand, her elbow leaning on the table, _"Now God only knows what's going on. I hope I don't get sick again, I just got better,"_ She grumbles getting sick and tired of being sick, tired and used.

 _"Well, after this you will be in better hands,"_ He begins to fade as a powerful explosion is heard that rocks the floor.

"Why? Why do you do this?" She opens her eyes to a woman with bleach blond hair screaming at her, blood running down her face.

Jade looks around to see the ruins of an explosion. She feels an object in her hand, "Jesus Christ, not again!" She screams throwing the silver rod onto the ground. She falls to her knees and watches the woman in front of her fall to the ground, "Why? Why does this keep happening?" She screams up to the sky as soot filled snow gently falls around her. Why does my voice sound like a man? "What does that man want from me?" She asks as she closes he eyes, wanting to wake up from the nightmare.

"Joker!" The dark figure falls from the sky, and once again walks angrily toward her.

"Can we skip you beating the shit out of me this time, my face just healed," She whines under her breath, not bothering to open her eyes, "I want to wake up from this nightmare already," She lets the tears fall freely down her face, surprisingly not moving the makeup at all.

"You're that girl again?" He asks walking closer to her, "Look up at me, tell it to my face," Slowly she lifts her head, he watches as the tears drip from her chin, "I'm not that maniac," She looks down at her hands in her lap, "Why me?"

"Come on, let's find that out," She hears the sirens of the first responders rushing to the scene. Slowly, she lifts her heavy body off the ground and follows slowly behind him, "Get in the back seat," He opens the door for her, "Put the blind fold on and sit still," She does as she is told and gets into the driver's seat.

The only sound is the small sniffles as she slowly stops crying. _Is this going to end finally? I feel so safe with him now. Does he know he's in my head?_

The car stops and she feels her door open, "You can take the blind fold off and follow me," She reaches up and takes it off and gets out of the car. She follows behind him, shivering.

"Can I have something to drink?" She asks clearing her throat, trying to make the strange voice go away.

"What do you want?" He asks as he rounds a corner.

"Something warm, please,"

"Robin, you know he'll just say no,"

"Well, I can at least try right?" He asks into an ear piece as he walks through the garage, having heard the car roll in only moments ago after getting a call about another Joker attack at city hall.

"Something warm please," He hears a strange man's voice. He looks up to see Joker walk around a corner.

"Aqua Lad, I have to let you go," He says quickly, pulling out his metal bo staff, getting it ready and running.

"Sure, I'll make you some tea, do you want cookies again?"

"I'm not hungry," She hears foot steps fast approaching. She turns, only to be slammed against the wall, a cold metal object holding her up by the neck. She feels her throat being restricted. She tries to fight at first, then stops. Why am I even fighting? I deserve this.

"Why is Joker here walking freely?" Robin yells into her face, pushing harder on her neck. She gasps lightly, her eyes closed tightly, but not fighting. She simply dangels.

Calmly, Batman places a firm hand on his shoulder, "That's not Joker,"

"What do you mean, that's not Joker?"

"Let her go," He says firmly. Robin stairs at his guardian, forced to obay. He backs away and lets her fall to the floor, holding her throat as she coughs roughly.

"Does this...Run in the...Family or something?" She asks between gasps and coughs.

"We're not related," Robin narrows his eyes at the person on the floor, "Who are you?"

"Robin, go get a wet cloth," Batman instructs, pointing down the hall. He holds a hand out to the person on the floor, "Come on, I want answers," She slowly takes his hand and he helps her to a standing position.

"Have you lost your mind?" Robin asks as he does as he is instructed.

Batman leads her back into the white room. It's colder than I remember. She crosses her arms tightly and begins to shiver, "Are you cold?" She nods her head and sits in the chair, a steaming cup of green tea and oat meal raisen cookies already waiting for her. On the side is a small jar of honey, sugar and half a lemon.

She lightly bounces the teabag by the string and stirs in some honey and squeezes a little lemon juice with a spoon already in the cup. She looks up suddenly when she hears the door open loudly, "here's what you asked for," Robin throws the cloth at Jade who tries to catch it, only to have it land in her lap.

"What's this for?"

"Wash your face, I did it for you last time, but since your awake this time," Robin begins to leave, "You stay, you have as much a right to hear this as I do," Robin nods his head and takes the seat across from Jade who washes her face slowly, revealing scars and pail skin.

"Who are you?" Robin asks suddenly. Anger raging inside him, not believing it's not Joker sitting across the table.

"Before I answer that, how the hell do I stop talking like a man?"

"Well, I could either punch you in the stomach again, or hang you upside down," Bat man says with absolutely no humor.

"I'll take the upside down," She puts the cloth down, having all the makeup off her face, bringing her slight normality

"Stand up, I'm going to need you to try and sing."

"Your kidding, right?"

"He never jokes," Robin says bitterly, expecting nothing to happen.

"No, I'm not kidding, here we go," He lifts her up by the waist, then grabs her ankles and hangs her upside down, facing Robin, "Begin,"

"I...I don't like to sing in front of people," Her face begins to grow red from embarrassment and the blood rushing to it quickly. Robin turns around and crosses his arms.

"There, now sing,"

"If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses," Quickly, her voice goes from being a tenner to a soprano, much to Robin's surprise. Her voice echo's slightly off the walls, "Sink me in the river, at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song,"

"That will do," He flips her back onto her feet and she quickly sits back into the chair, looking away from both men across the table.

"I'm whelmed,"


	24. The condition is tea

She takes a sip from the steaming cup and looks up at Robin, a scowl still on his face, "Who are you?" He repeats.

"My name is Jade Clines,"

"Why did you blow up city hall?"

"I didn't do it of my own free will,"

"What is the last thing you remember?" Batman asks standing beside Robin. They watch her slowly grab a cookie and nibble on it lightly.

"I have to say, you make some of the best cookies,"

"Answer the question,"

"Sorry." She takes another drink, "I remember walking back home from the grochrie store for some items my father requested, then Joker grabbed me, dragged me into an ally way. He told me to behave because I was putting up a struggle. He told me that I shouldn't make him do something he regrets, then I'm in the after math of city hall," She takes another drink from the no longer steaming cup of tea. She looks into it and frowns lightly as she is greeted with the white bottom.

"You're telling us you don't remember?" Robin accuses loudly.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you didn't fucking speak English, you want it in French, German, Spanish or Chinese?"

"Enough you two," Batman glares down at Robin who gives him the look of false accusation. He turns his attention back to Jade, "It's hard to believe what you are telling us is true. I'm going to bring in an associate of mine to get the truth of what is really happening,"

"One condition," She counters.

"What's that?" He raises an eye brow.

"Can I get more tea?"

An almost invisible smile graces the man's lips for a split second before he reaches his hand out and takes the cup, "Sure, I'll get you more tea," He turns and exists the room quickly.

"Why are you helping that phycho?" Robin asks crossing his arms, slouching in the chair

"Why are you helping that phycho?" She counters pointing toward the door.

"Touch'e,"

Silence befalls them as she reaches and grabs another cookie, "Seriously, why are these soo good?" She asks between bites.

"Our butler makes them,"

"You have a butler?" She snorts slightly, "That's got to be a pretty interesting job," She looks up at Robin from the cookie to see a slight smile on his face.

"Guess I never thought of it like that," He takes on a more serious tone, "So, why are you here really?"

"Mostly so I don't get beat up again," Robin raises an eyebrow in question, "The last time this happened, he punched me in the torso, then in the face. My face litterly got back to normal a week ago," She complains, "But I'm here because I'm sick of this happening, I don't want to be used as some stand in to get beat up," She looks into the white's of his mask, "Do you really think I want to blow up buildings and kill people?" Tears begin to fill her eyes, "Do you really think I want to live with the guilt of something I never wanted to do, something I didn't even do of my own free will?"

"I don't know, that's why Mr. John's is coming in,"

"And what is Mr. John's going to do? Read my mind?" She begins to laugh when the door opens to reviel a tall green man. She stops laughing and stairs, "Holey shit. Either that's amazing, or really, really petty stupidity,"

"I would like to think I'm amazing," The man replies in a deep, yet careful voice.

"I had a condition,"

Batman comes from behind the green man with a new cup of steaming liquid, "Here's your condition,"

"Yum," She takes the cup carefully from his hands and blows on it lightly.

"So, Jade, how about you tell me everything you know about these special circumstances," Robin stands so he can take the chair and scoot it closer so he is sitting next to her.

"Where do you want me to begin,"

"Tell me what ever you want to tell me,"

"I want this nightmare to be over,"

"I can understand that, I want to hear what you know about all of this,"

"The only thing I know is I've been being used for something," She puts the cup down, not feeling like tasting the sweet, smooth texture, "At first I thought I was just sleep walking when I would wake up out of bed, but then the window would be left open when I know I closed it. Then the bruises and scratches came. Oh yah, before all of that, I got kidnapped?"

"Why is that a question?"

"I'm not sure what happened actually. I was at my father's for the first time and I had asked to use his phone to call a cab, then I fell asleep. The next thing I know I'm tied to a chair with this Joker guy cutting my hair!"

"You don't do your hair like that?"

"No! I used to have long blond hair, then he does this shit to me! That's traumatic enough, but no, he goes the extra ocean and makes me blow up a bank some how. I don't even know how I got to the damn bank! All I know is I'm waking up with fucking dead people around me!" By this point she is breathing heavily from yelling. Frustration flows through her veins that she's not getting help.

"Why are you angry?"

"He said he would help me," She points an accusing finger at Batman who stands in the front of the room, watching silently, "But all I'm doing is repeating the same fucking crap I've told him!"

"I need you to calm down,"

She turns her anger at him, "Then fix the fucking problem," She hisses at him.

"That's what I'm trying to do, you need to take a deep breath," She does as she is told, an extra two times before opening her eyes to look at him, "I can tell this is hard for you to talk about. I'm going to make it much easier. All I want you to do is try to relax,"

"What are you going to do?" She asks calmly, looking directly into his eyes.

"I'm going to read your mind,"

"What?" She yells all relaxation gone, fading quickly into humor, "This is a joke, right?" She looks at Batman, "Your testing my sanity, right?" She begins laughing, "Read my mind. What kind of dumb ass do you take me for?"

"None at all. I'm serious,"

She laughs again, "Okay, then what am I thinking?"

"You want your black hat with the green feline eyes that your mother made for your sixteenth birthday,"

Her face drops, "Lucky guess?" She asks in astonishment.

"No,"

"Oh, okay, so you can read minds," She grabs the tea and giggles lightly, "I'm going insane," She takes a sip and just stairs at the green man.

"Alright, Jade, I want you to relax. I'll see what I can find in your subconscious. Either your repressing memories yourself, or someone's making you forget," With that being said, he begins.


	25. Unforgotten

Sorry it's been awhile again, have been going through quite a writer's block. But here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Woh, Woh, woh, how is this going to work?"

"While I'm in your mind, I will be able to see everything you have seen, through your eyes,"

"Okay, how will you know what you're seeing?"

"I can talk to you,"

"This seem's a bit unfair. You'll know what's going on, but I'm being left in the dark?"

"I can take you with me,"

Jade begins laughing loudly, "What is this, a fucking Christmas Carol?" The green man gives her a questioning look, while Robin chuckles.

"No,"

Jade's face drops, "Obviously,"

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be to have some stranger meander around in my brain,"

"Good, I want you to remember when you first got to Gothem. From there let your mind wander," Jade nods her head and closes her eyes and does as she is told.

She feels the very strange feeling of another entity in her mind. Well, if this isn't an invitation of privacy, I don't know what is.

"Don't think of it that way, I will respect your privacy as much as I can," His voice invades her mind, making her phyically jump in the seat.

"This is just wrong," She responds back in her mind.

"What was the first thing that happened when you got to Gothem?"

"I got phneumonia for starters," She remembers going to the pharamsy and picking up the medication over the counter. Then the coughing fit in the middle of the store, the embarrassment and fear to follow. Then the doctor's visit, the boy who bumped into her.

"Why were you so scared when you saw the blood?"

"I was remembering when my mother was going through chemo, she got a cold and she started coughing up blood," Next she remembers getting the job at the bakery. Then the apartment with the balcony.

After remembering a few days of work, all in fast forward, the next thing was meeting her father for the first time. She remembers the nervousness, uneasiness, excitement and fear all wrapped up in a nauseating package.

"Did you not know your father before this?"

"No, it was just my mother and I my whole life," Her mind flashes to a memory of her mother. Tears begin to roll down her face as the pangs of grief come back.

"You miss her so much," He makes an observation. He reaches out his hand and touches hers lightly, "The pain you feel will pass. I can't promise it will never stop hurting, but it will dull," She nods her head and wipes her eyes.

Robin and Batman look on at the silent pair. They watch as 's hand reaches out and touches hers. They see the tears streaming down her face as she wipes them away.

"If you need to, we can take a break," She shakes her head.

"No, I'm okay, I can keep going," She pulls her mind away from the memory of her mother's healthy smiling face back to when she first met Jack, "My mother's dying wish was to never look for him," She confides in him.

"Why did she tell you that?" They watch as the memory plays by itself.

"She told me only pain and misery will follow," They watch as she goes to the phone, then hitting the floor, "This is where this whole nightmare began," She tells him, honestly not wanting to relive this, but knowing this is a big step toward getting the help she wants so bad.

They watch as the man cuts her green hair, tells her that she will carry out the biggest bank robbery the town had ever seen. Then the watch comes out.

Mr. Jone's watches as everything goes black to her contentiousness, then see's her waking up in the bank after blowing it up, "I never meant to do it!" She yells to him.

"I know. Let's see why you did," He takes her deeper into her own mind, to her subconscious. She watches fragments float by. Scrambled, in chaos, "This is why you can't remember," She reaches out her hand, seeing the Joker putting the watch away, "Some one has forced you to forget,"

He watches her touch the memory, "Your job is to go into the bank, tell them to pull all the money out and hand it over, or you'll blow it up. If any hesitation is shown, push the button. Once you have the money, push the button," He hands her the silver rod, "If anyone asks who you are, tell them they are stupid." He turns and brings out a large, metal cylinder attached to an oxygen mask, "Breath this in deeply. Refrain from talking too much,"

Mr. Jone's looks at Jade standing next to him, watching a memory she doesn't even remember. The shock in her eyes, the disbelief flooding her emotions, "Now go and reach havoc in my name," She turns to leave, but is stopped, "Put this on and don't take it off until you get inside the bank," She puts the long, black trench coat on with a hood sloppily sewed on, "Now go,"

She watches her feet hit the pavement as she makes her way eight blocks to the bank. She opens the door, walks up to the counter, ignoring the angry people she barges in front of, takes the trench coat off and repeats what she is told to say. She watches the bank teller's face go white, nods her head and hurries to get all the money she can. The woman turns to look at her, and she presses the button. The large explosion pushes her out of the trance.

"How?" She looks up at Mr. Jones, watching expressionless, as if watching a T.V mystery show, "How can I forget all of this?"

"He hypnotized you, told your subconscious to forget. If your subconscious forgets, your contentiousness has absolutely no clue," They watch as Batman beats her up, then waking up in the same room they occupy. The interrogation, then releasing her back into her father's custody. The awful guilt that strikes her the next few days as she is given medical leave.

That night, a woman with black hair wearing a white mask with cat ears and red markings wakes her up, takes her hand, "I will show you around the city so you can do your job proporley," The rest of the night, she is following this woman around the town and told the street names. When the sun begins to rise, she is taken back home. Then she is waking up on the floor with the window to her balconey open.

The next day she goes to get her phone turned on. On the way back home, she is bumped into a woman with black hair saying she is looking for her son. Then she is following her to a pharmacy, handed a pencil and told to deliver it to the corner of Pearl Street and Fifth Avenue. She nods her head, takes the blue mechanical pencil, "If any one tries to stop you, kill them," She nods her head again and begins walking.

"Miss, what are you doing out so late?" An officer asks her as he pulls up next to her in a squad car. After she gives no response, the man gets out, "Stop where you are!" He yells. Again she keeps going, no thoughts running through her mind. He pulls out his gun and runs in front of her, "Put your hands in the air!" He yells. She runs up to him, grabs his neck and squeezes with her left arm wrapped around him, her right arm pulling her left back. The man begins to struggle, he starts scratching her, slamming her against the brick walls around them. He falls to the ground, still trying to get free as his efforts begin to diminish.

As Jade watches this in horror. Tears roll down her face, "I'm done." She stairs at the forgotten memory, guilt building up quickly. The green man puts a hand on her shoulder.

"If you want, I can keep going with out you," She nods her head, "I want you to close your eyes and think of somewhere that makes you happy," Again she nods, then disappears from his view. He turns back to her subconscious and begins to dig deeper.


	26. Lock down

She goes into her old house where it was just her and her mother, living together. Not a care in the world. Before Amy became sick. Before her life came to a screeching hault. Before she became a murderer. She sits at the kitchen table and stuffs her head into her arms that are crossed on the brown table.

"I'm sorry Mom," She cries into the table as the tears plopp rapidly, "You were right," She snorts, "Who am I kidding, you were always right," The word were sends her over board. She begins sobbing, "Mom, I miss you so much," She wails.

Robin and Batman watch as the tears stream down her face, "Mom, I miss you so much," She wails to no one.

"Does this always happen?" Robin asks.

"Not always. My guess is he sent her some where else in her mind after she told him that she was done," He looks down at the boy, "She must have not liked what she saw," He looks back at the pair, Jade still sobbing, J'onn sitting pefectly still.

Three hours pass. Jade had calmed down after the first hour, looking like she is simply sleeping.

Mr. Jones stands suddenly and faces the two at the front of the room, "We have MUCH to discuss," He tells Batman as he walks closer.

"What happened to her?"

"I believe she fell asleep after I told her to go some where else,"

"I will put her up for the night," He walks forward, picks her up off the chair, holding her bridal style, "Robin, show Mr. Jones to the living room. After that, you are free to go for the night," He walks out of the room, only to stop suddenly, "By the way, don't tell ANY ONE about what has happened here today," He turns to look down at Robin, "Not a soul,"

"Yah, yah, I got it," Batman nods his head and turns to the left while Robin and Mr. Jones turn to the right.

"So, is she at fault?" Robin asks as J'onn follows behind him.

"No. She is being used to do the Light's dirty work,"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, she is filled with valuable information and secrets about their opperations, and she remembers nothing about it," He sighs heavily, "Her mind is in ruins. It is undoing itself slowly. If I do not do something soon, I'm afraid she will slip through both ours and their fingers,"

"What do you mean?"

"Alfred, is there a room ready?"

"Yes, sir," Batman feels Jade shift in her sleep. She tries rolling onto her side, only to be stopped. Her eyes open slowly.

"What are you doing?" She mummbles sleepily.

"You're going to be staying the night here. You should get some rest," He replies quietly as he follows behind Alfred, "You'll be completly safe here. No one is getting to you," Jade sighs heavily, wanting to hear those words so much.

"Thank you,"

"What do you remember?"

"I don't want to talk about it," She turns away to look at the butler's back, "Is this your butler?"

"Yes, his name is Alfred. If you need anything, just call for him,"

"Are you sure he will hear me?" She whispers.

"I can assure you, my hearing is quite accute,"

"Well, that answers that question," She turns to look back up at Batman as she hears Alfred unlock a door, "Is there a shower and change of cloths in there? Becasue I can assure you I am NOT wearing this any longer," She complains angrily.

"I can arrange for a change of cloths," Alfred replies as he opens the door to let Batman through sideways carrying Jade.

"You are not allowed to leave this room until I come to get you," Batman says as he sets her on the bed.

"Not like I will have much of a choice in the matter, you're going to lock the door,"

"Yes I am, and if you want your safty insured, you will do as you are told,"

"Seriously, what do you think I am capable of?"

"I'm not sure, that's why I'm telling you,"

"Your change of cloths will be waiting for you when you are done with your shower," Alfred says stiffly as he leaves the room quickly.

"Hay! While you at it, can I get a glass of water?" She calls after him, then turns back to Batman, "Anything else?"

"No, if you feel the need to talk, tell Alfred. Until then, I will need your phone,"

"Sure," She digs into her back pocket only to pull out her black hat, "Um. I guess I don't have it," She whispers absent mindedly.

"Is that the hat you were wanting?"

"Yes,"

"If you are hidding anything I WILL find out,"

"Well, you're going to find a whole lot of nothing, because I don't know where my phone is,"

"Then I will need the clothing,"

"You can have this God awful outfit," She looks at him, "Um... I'll give it to Alfred. I'm not stripping in front of you," She glares at him.

"Fine, he will be searching the room after,"

"Fine, what ever, just get out. I'm sick of smelling like...what ever I smell like." She takes a quick sniff of her sleeve, "Oh God, he wares calone, and it is awful!"

"I will be seeing you in the morning,"

"K, what ever," She hears him open the door, "Hay, um...Thanks, for...you know. Um...Not beating the ever living hell out of me this time,"

Batman chuckels, "No problem," He turns and closes the door, then locks it.

"I'll take lock down over the other shit any day," She makes her way into the white bathroom with a tub, toilet, shower head and sink. A towel, toothbrush, flaws and brush already there, "Cool," She looks in the shower to find the nesessities, then starts the water, "Good bye freekish outfit," She gets undressed, then throws the horride cloths out of the room, then shuts the door. She gets into the shower and stands there for several minutes, "God, I hope this is the help I have been wanting, and not more pain,"

"Miss Clines?" She hears Alfred on the otherside of the bathroom door, "Your change of cloths is on the bed. There is also a change for tomorrow. Your water is on the bedside table along with some cookies the master requested for you,"

"Sweet," She whispers, "Thank you,"

"Will there be anything else?"

"Could I get an extra blanket?"

"Of corse," She begins washing herself slowly, trying to let the water wash everything away.

"How can I wash that away?" She asks herself as she thinks back to killing the officer.

"So, what your telling me is she was a messenger for the Light?"

"Yes, but most of the information she was given was either coded, or wasn't seen,"

"What do you mean wasn't seen?"

"She was given the order to look at nothing that was given to her. Ask no questions and speak to no one exept the disired person if it was a verbal message which was few and far between. All coded information as well,"

"So in other words, she knows nothing,"

"No, not true, if we can decode the messages, the information will be ours,"

"True. Who did she all come in contact with?"

"Mostly Sport's master, Cheshire, Ice cicle family members, and several Bellrev inmates," "Any else?"

"Not in direct contact with. There were several times she was order to simply drop packages off on roofs, in tree's, or an old ware house,"

"Where is the warehouse located?"

"One eighty four Bayview Avenue,"

"I will send the team there tomorrow to investigate for any clues,"

"Batman, I will need to talk to her tomorrow,"

"Did you not get all the information?"

"I did, but her mind is unraveling. She needs time to heal. Time with my neice I belive will set her on the right path,"

"Are you suggesting I put her in with the team?"

"Yes. This way she will have constent servalience, she will get the time she needs to naturally get her mind back together, and we may be able to get more information out of her if we take her to Bellreve,"

"We will have to discuss this with the rest of the legue,"

"I agree,"

"Ahh," She walks out of the bathroom, the towel wrapped around her to see a white night gown, a pair of blue jeans, a red blouse, a blue blanket all folded on the bed with her hat sitting on the night gown. She lets out a large sigh of relief. On the night stand, she see's the glass of water, two cookies and a note.

First she gets dressed, puts the hat on, then reads the note.

'Jade, I will be picking you up tomorrow morning at eight. You will be talking to Mr. Jones again. From there we will discuss what to do with you.'

"Great." She drops the piece of paper to the ground, "I hate negotiations," She takes the jeans, shirt, bra and underwear over to a small dresser across the room and drops them, makes her way back to the bed and unfolds the blanket and spreads it on the twin sized bed.

Once the bed is made, she flips the covers back, then tucks herself in. Eats the two cookies, drinks half the water, shuts the light off, then quickly falls asleep.


	27. Sorry, guys

Hay guys, sorry it's been so long. I've been having a lot of health problems as of late. I'm hoping to be able to stay coherent enough to write the next chapter, but I'm not sure when that's going to be happening. My asthma has been mixed with pneumonia. Lol coincidence, but it's defiantly not a safe combination at all. It has me very weak, very tired, and as you can imagine, VERY out of breath. So please be patient with me, and I promise I will update as soon as I can leave my house again.

Sorry.


	28. morning voting and buffets

Hay guys, I know it's been a while. I'm sorry, had a bit more trouble with the while breathing thing than I thought. But I'm on some new meds and they are helping quite a bit. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanks giving, if you celebrate. If you don't, I hope you are having a wonderful day with family or friends. Any who, I hope you enjoy

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Finally,"

"Okay, let me get this stright," She looks at the dark figure across the white table, "I have to deal with you when I'm asleep AND when I'm awake?" The man says nothing, "You do know this is equivelent to tourture, right?"

"You are finally where you need to be,"

"Are you saying I'm going to get the help I need?" She asks hope making excitment rush through her vains.

"Yes. Just don't mess this up,"

"How could I mess it up?"

"Don't do anything stupid,"

"Say's the man who invades my head," She hears the door unlock. The footsteps come toward her. She looks up to see the man gone from the white table.

"Miss Clines,"

"Yah, Yah, I get it, get up," She stretches, her joints popping loudly. She opens her eyes to see Alfred's smile face. Crows feet giving him the look of wisdom.

"Yes it is time to get up," The young master is waiting for you in the dinning room,"

"And bat for brains?"

"He will be joining us later today," He turns and walks back out the door, closing it behind him, "I will be wating out here for you to get dressed," She gets out of bed slowly feeling actually rested.

She stretches one more time and yawns loudly, walks over to the dresser and gets dressed quickly, her stomach growling loudly at the thought of breakfast.

After getting dressed, she readjusts her hat and walks to the door, finding it unlocked, "I'm not going to get attacked, am I?" She asks, not seeing Alfred immediatly.

"Only if you destroy something or attack another,"

"Okay, good enough for me," Alfred comes from behind the opened door, and closes it soflty.

"Follow me please," She does as she is told, taking in the nonexistence decorations.

"Morning," Robin greets at a large table with what looks like a buffet style breakfast.

"Morning," Her mouth begins to water looking at everything from eggs benidict to stuffed french toast.

"You look hungry,"

"Just hungry?" She follows Alfred to her seat which he pulls out to let her sit, then pushes her back in.

"What would you like first?"

She looks at Alfred, then Robin, "Seriously? I get served at the table?"

"Yah, why not?"

"You are so spoiled," She shakes her head, then scans the feast before her, "Can I get two pancakes, three sausage patties, one waffel, four eggs, and two spoon fulls of parfit,"

"As you wish," Alfred makes his way around the table quickly, picking the items she selected.

"I think your eyes are bigger than your stomach," Robin says stairing at her in disbeliefe.

"I think your eyes are bigger than your brain," She comments back rudley as Alfred sets one plate in front of her filled with both pancakes and waffels, then grabs another plate.

"Where are you going to put that all?"

"Um...in my mouth," She replies questioningly, not sure if he really is that dumb to ask a question that stupid.

"What ever," He waves his gloved hand at her and proceeds to finish his small breakfast.

Alfred quickly has the meal laid out in front of her, "Would you care for anything to drink?"

"Coffee, black please,"

"Certinly," As he walks away, Jade picks up her knife and fork and digs into her large meal, quickly going through one plate by the time Alfred gets back.

"So, where is Batman?" She asks abset mindedly between bites.

"He's at a meeting," Captin Marvel asks in awe, "So she was totally a secret spy,"

The legue grows quite as he glances around quickly, only to look at the table in dissapointment.

"Why are you bringing this up to us if the problem is taken care of?" Super man asks with a straight face.

"Because, she still has valubale infromation we can use to our advantage at stoping the light, but the only safe way I believe we can do this, is if we give her mind time to heal,"

"And how do you supose we do that?" Green arrow asks, intruegued by the turn of events with the case.

"Batman and I prupose we let her stay with the team until she is safe from her captrours, and all she knows is brought forth,"

"Are you insane?" Green lanter stands, placing his hands harshly on the table, "You'll be playing right into their hands. How do you know Simon hasn't been roaming around in there?"

"There was no trace of him in her mind," Martian answers calmly, understanding the concern that is brought forth

"How can we be sure?"

"We're not," Batman interjects darkly.

"But, my neice has fought, and beaten Simon in the past, and I have confidents in her abilities that she will be able to do it again in the need arrises,"

"Are we going to vote or bicker all day, I have other plans that need my attention today," Black canarie inurupts impatiently.

"Yes, let us vote weather Jade is allowed to stay or we have to find a different way of saving not only the information, but this girl who might I remind you, can and will be used against us if the opportunity arrises," Martian says before the vote begins.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" Robin asks from across the table after akward silence befalls them.

"I forgot what a good rest felt like until today," She admits sipping her second cup of coffee, "I feel great!" To prove her point, she puts a large smile on her face, only to cover it immidatily by the coffee cup.

"Well, that's good, because wants to talk to you again today,"

"Yah, I remember," She grumbles, "It's freeky to have some one roam around in your mind,"

Robin nods, "So, I heard you hacked the governemt's systems before,"

"It's sad, it wasn't hard,"

"Wasn't hard?" He exclames jumping out of his chair, "I havn't even been able to do that, and I have the tech for it!"

"What tech? They have tech to help you hack? Sience when?"

Robin stairs at her, "Your joking, right?"

"I'm dead serious, if I kew they had tech for it, I would have totally made them uncover cancer curing files to the country,"

"What did you use? A super comptuer?"

"I wish, no I used the computer my aunt gave me from walmart. Works good enough,"

"What are you?"

"Last time I check, a human girl," She sets the empty cup on the table next to her four empty plates, "By the way, what am I going to do until he gets back? Sit in the room and twittle my thumbs?"

"He said he would be back by the time breakfast was done, the meeting must be going on longer than expected,"

"Results from the vote are twelve in favor, four opposing. She will be staying with the team until further notice," With that being said, everyone stands and makes their way out.

"Batman, would you like me to see her tomorrow instead?" Martian asks before Batman can go back to the cave, "Trying to get answers and meeting new people can be a lot for a young girl in one day,"

"Sounds good. I will want her aclimated as soon as possible any way,"


	29. I'm back!

Hello my lovely readers!

I'm would like to take the time to apologize for my ridiculously long absence. I had poor health, personal problems and other things to deal with but, I am doing much better and will be working on my top story very soon!

by the way, I'm not sure if this has ever been done before on fanfiction, but;

I want to try to get my readers more engaged in the story, so, if you have any suggestions or questions you have please PLEASE let me know! I absolutely love to hear from you all and your opinions and questions mean a lot to me!

Thanks for sticking with me this long!

you will be hearing from me very soon


End file.
